A Heart of Sand
by Detectivetk
Summary: Three years have passed and Gaara still has no idea where Aoi is or what happened but he now he has a slight interest in a new girl. She calls herself Naomi and even though her hair has changed, her eyes are different, her skin is paler, she changes her voice and she hides behind her hoodie, she's not who she says she is. Sequel to Broken Wings.
1. Chapter 1

_NARUTO (-__ナルト__-)Masashi Kishimoto & Shueisha._  
_Original Characters & plot belongs to me._

**A Heart of Sand.  
**_A modern day Naruto Fanfiction._

By Zottiely

_Just a side note to everyone. First of all this IS a sequel (to Broken Wings) so you will probably need to read that first and secondly, holy shit I was a crap writer back then, I guess I got bored half way through, which kind of makes me want to re-write that whole part but I've decided against it because I'm doing this sequel. I also apologize if I make you wait weeks or months for chapters as I am a very busy person (: enjoy._

Gaara sat at the back of the college lecture theatre, Naruto flanked his side. He was throwing paper aeroplanes in the air which constantly annoyed Gaara. It had been almost three years since Aoi left and Gaara had never gotten over it. He had tried looking for her, as soon as he finished school he spent some time looking for her, everywhere possible but he just couldn't find that blue haired girl. He was planning to maybe transfer colleges to one in Suna.

Sasuke walked into the lecture hall and looked at Gaara looking as smug as usual while all the girls fawned over him. There never stop do they, the only difference was that had emptied out a row for only him and Sakura. She must've gotten to him.

"Earth to Gaara?" Naruto called, his face inches from his.

"What?" his anti-social tone being as lively as usual.

"You were zoning out for a second and I needed to copy your work from this lecture."

"Naruto, how did you even get into college?"

"I'm pretty smart you know!"

Gaara sighed. He picked up his things and chucked them in his bag before walking out of the class room.

"Hey Gaara! Where you going?!" Naruto yelled but Gaara ignored him. He dragged himself out of the lecture hall. He made his way towards the office to try and find a transfer form. He dropped his black bag on the floor and sat in a blue chair. Is black jeans were the same as usually and he wore a black slipknot shirt. He waited for the lady behind the counter to get off the phone. Gaara started to play with his lip ring which he had gotten the year before; it was on the left side of his mouth. His tongue piercing was recently new though and it hit his lip ring causing clangs in his mouth. He realised how bored he was.

The door flung open and a bunch of teachers walked through. Gaara stared at them bored. They all looked the same, in there so called professional outfits and what not. Something caught his eye as the rest of the disappeared. There was a girl who came in after them. She sat a few seats away from Gaara with some sort of form in her hand. Her hair was pitch black and she had her eyebrow pierced. She wore a purple tank top and black jeans along with converses. Gaara stared, intrigued. The girl also wore a hoodie which was pulled up, hiding parts of her face. Her black hair seemed to be a mess, it was all over the place and wavy.

When the lady behind the counter hung up she rushed to the front and handed in her forms then quickly ran out of the room. Gaara blankly noticed the studded belts that hung from her hips.

"Do you need any help?" the lady asked.

"No…" he trailed off and walked back out trying to follow the girl. She disappeared out of view and he stood there confused. Why did he even follow her?

Gaara slammed the door of his room shut and chucked his bag on his bed. His room was relatively clean, there were a few misplaced shirts in the corner but other than that it was probably the cleanest room in the house. He took out his phone and noticed he had three missed calls from Naruto. He shrugged and texted him to stop acting like an attached girlfriend. He was only like that because Hinata was sick today and didn't show up for the English lecture. They were a cute couple but Gaara didn't know much about couples, he had been in a relationship once, and considered himself to still be in that relationship because he couldn't let her go. Love was about betrayal. His uncle loved him and then betrayed him, why did he think Aoi was going to be any different? She loved him for a moment and took off without saying anything to his face. He cringed slightly. He didn't like to think about it but lately he had gone back to his old ways, drawing furiously, not talking to anyone, thrashing out and being anti-social. Just a few weeks ago a few guys were sent to hospital because of him; luckily Temari and Shikamaru were able to take care of that problem.

Gaara took out a picture from his pocket; it was one of him and Aoi together. Her hands wrapped around his neck, looking over his shoulder as he took the picture. They both had that picture and he only took it because she wanted him to. She wore that cute little panda hat of hers which reminded her of him. He sighed and put it back in his pocket. Why did he feel like this?

The door opened and Kunkaro appeared.

"Temari and Shikamaru are joining us together, oh and so is there child, what's her name again?"

"Ai," he said it like it was a foul egg that had just been thrown at him. They picked it because it was close to Aoi and she was dear to all of them, especially Gaara. He cursed and punched the wall because of his feelings. He promised himself that he would never open up to anyone again. That night replayed to him, there was something up with her and he knew it but he let her leave anyway and he was left with a stupid letter.

_I'm sorry Gaara, to leave you now. I cannot tell you where I am going and I cannot tell you why. It's to do with someone's revenge so I'm stuck. I don't want to leave you, I promise you that much but I'm gone. I don't know how ever long this will be. I'm almost positive I will never be able to come back, so you should move on. Find someone new. Start a new life; find someone who will care for you, someone you can care for, someone that you can spend your life with. I'm sorry Gaara. I love you._

_Aoi._

He kept it with him all the time. He was so busy looking for her that when he read it this time he realised something else. She left because of someone else, was she forced into it? He punched the wall again not realising this sooner. If he found whoever that was then maybe he would be able to get the answer. The last line stung him the most. _I'm sorry Gaara, I love you. _He wanted to whisper back I love you too as if his words would come back to her but he knew that would never happen. He just wanted to hold her; he had never felt like this before. He heard his name called and he went down stairs. A little girl who was almost three giggled as he came down. The little girl was a constant reminder of Aoi, about the years that had gone past. The little girl sometimes acted like Aoi too, she even called him panda or racoon at times. He sat there in silence as he ate his food.

Aoi sat in her apartment that showed a clear view of where she lived. It was a small apartment with only one bedroom, one bathroom and a kitchen but it was fine. It was all she needed. She threw her hoodie onto her bed as she pulled off her top and jeans and changed into some pyjamas. She wandered off towards the bathroom and brushed her teeth. She looked at her reflection. She hated the fake her she currently had, that fake ash black. She preferred her abnormal but natural lightning blue hair. She cursed and washed the toothpaste out of her mouth before brushing her teeth. Sasuke probably didn't forget about what happened but she had to come back, she had to get back at him and at least see how Gaara was going. She felt the need to be with him and she hated that feeling she had in the bottom of her stomach ever since she left.

She cursed as she tried to take her bright blue contacts out which added to her disguise. Gaara would probably realise it was her at some point but she couldn't risk that while she had to think about this whole situation. She didn't even think about coming here, she just got on a plane and left. She had the urge to call Itachi and ask for help, he was exactly what you would hope for a big brother. The problem was that he was Sasuke's big brother. She cursed and rolled up her sleeves from the heat of the bathroom. She looked down at her arm sadly. One cut for everyday she had been away. Over 800 scars covered up her sickly skin.


	2. Chapter 2

_NARUTO (-__ナルト__-)Masashi Kishimoto & Shueisha._  
_Original Characters & plot belongs to me._

**A Heart of Sand.  
**_A modern day Naruto Fanfiction._

By Zottiely

_I thought I would be nice and upload two chapters for you guys (:_

_Oh and if you want to find the actually picture which I drew for the cover it's here: #/d5qh5xy _

_and i'll be drawing more soon (:_

Gaara woke up to the sound of cluttering in the kitchen. He cursed as his head ached; he only slept for an hour which was good enough for him but the sudden jolt of noise had damaged his head. His sleeping habits had gotten better, he was able to sleep for up to four hours now but most if that consisted of blank dreams.

He stumbled down the stairs in his boxers to find Kunkaro was digging through the kitchen. He groaned since he had found nothing to eat.

"Why is there no fucking food in this house?" Kunkaro muttered.

"Why is there an idiot searching through the kitchen?" Gaara's voice was low and made Kunkaro jump.

"So I guess I'm buying some food today then."

"It's not like you have anything to do."

Kunkaro sighed but continued searching through the kitchen. Gaara grumbled and found his way back upstairs to his room. He opened the bathroom door and took a shower. As he washed his hair he frowned, he had a dream last night and it was coming back to him but only in pieces. There was that black haired girl, running, running away from something, someone actually and she had tears streaming down her face. Gaara shook his head to get the thought away. He got out of the shower and dried off with a towel before walking into his room and grabbing some clothes. He chucked on some black jeans and a red top with a black long sleeved shirt underneath. He grabbed his head phones and his bag then left. He connected his headphones to his phone as he got into his car. He drove down to a lower suburb where Naruto lived. Gaara had been giving Naruto a lift every day of college and Naruto was the only person that actually talked to him about his feelings. Though Gaara now denies things more often Gaara knew he couldn't hide his thoughts on Aoi.

Naruto jumped into the seat next to him with that ecstatic smile. Gaara rolled his eyes and sped down the street causing Naruto to hit the dashboard. He yelled at Gaara and Gaara only told him to put his seatbelt on. He hid his smirk well.

Gaara parked at the school and they both got out of the car. Hinata was here today so Naruto raced over to her, giving her thousands of kisses because she wasn't here. Gaara leant against his car and looked off somewhere else. He really didn't need to talk to anyone. It was hard to come back to that, not being open, not being friendly but he found a way, even if it didn't work against some people it was still enough for him.

He saw her again. The girl from the office. Strands of her hair covered her face but her black hoodie covered the rest. She wore a pure black shirt that had Finn from adventure time on it. Gaara chuckled to himself silently at that. She wore dark blue jeans and platform converses, but you could barely tell. She ran across his view. He frowned for a moment then picked up his bag and followed her.

She must be late for her next class or something. Gaara immediately thought. She walked into what seemed to be the art hall and she sat at the front. The teacher told her to pull down her hoodie and she did. She had a pretty face. Gaara thought he had seen her face before but it might've just been from when she was in the office. She was one of the first in this class so he didn't know why she had run here. A boy with long hair walked into the classroom. Gaara knew it was Neji and he sat down next to the girl and introduced himself. He could barely make out what she was saying but she said her name was Naomi. She must've come from a different city or something.

"Oi! Red head! What you looking at?!" Naruto yelled and crouched down beside Gaara who was peering through the window, "Who's that?"

Naruto had noticed which person he was staring at.

"I don't know," Gaara said simply.

"Do you have the hots for her or something?"

"No," his tone didn't change, "I thought I had seen her before."

He turned to say something else but Naruto was gone. Gaara just looked back in the window and his eyes widened. Naruto had walked into the class.

Aoi sat there trying to act, well not like herself. She tucked her black hair behind her ear then pulled her sleeves down more. Neji had introduced himself to her because he usually sat alone in that row. She smiled and talked low and quiet. She transferred here under the name Naomi. She knew that this would've caused a riot if she walked in as herself, especially since Sasuke never lets things go but not only that, she knew that Gaara would probably never forgive her. She was still in love with him but she had to walk out because of the stupid things she had done.

She turned around to see Naruto barge in. Her eyes widened, she was sure she wasn't in his class. Luckily Naruto is thoroughly dense and probably wouldn't recognise her.

"Hi guys!" Naruto smiled as he walked over to where she and Neji sat, "So Neji, who's this?"

"This is Naomi," he said not even bothering to look at Naruto.

"Hi Naomi! Did you just move here or something?"

"Something like that," Aoi kept her voice low and quiet.

"Well why don't we all have a gang outing on the green, twelve o'clock, you know after everyone's first class, we all have a free period right?"

"If we say yes will you leave?" Neji said.

"Only if you want me to."

"Well then sure."

Aoi saw Naruto walk outside and around the back. She turned around to see Gaara standing there talking to Naruto. Her eyes widened and she turned around quickly.

"Uhm, so who was that?" she smiled nervously.

"That was Naruto; he's a pain in the ass like everyone else."

"Oh," she forced a giggle, "so what's our first project?"

"Well, the teacher told us last week we had to draw a still picture."

"Do you know what you want to draw?"

"Not entirely."

"Oh okay. Is drawing your strong point?" she continued asking questions and talking, testing if her 'disguise' worked.

Sasuke sat against a tree on what was commonly known as the green. It was about 11:50 now. Sakura came and sat down next to him. He put his arm around her and pulled her close to him. She was the one girl in this entire school that he hadn't fucked, mainly because she actually had self-respect and because he actually liked her. He kissed her forehead. Naruto and Gaara soon joined them. Naruto was poking Sasuke and Sakura was getting annoyed. Gaara lay on his back and looked at the sky, not saying a word. Others soon came to join them. Hinata was pulled into Naruto's lap and her new found confidence was showing as she kissed him first. He was caught by surprised then kissed her back. Most people had started eating their lunch but Gaara didn't need food. Not really. Neji and Aoi soon joined them. Naruto's smile widened and everyone looked at them confused.

"Everyone this is Naomi," he said and she sat down next to him not saying a word. As Sakura fiddled with Sasuke's shirt he stared at Aoi. A new girl, a new challenge was what he was thinking not recognising the poor girl. She had bright blue contacts in but nobody knew that. She looked down to the ground and started muttering to Neji.

Gaara moved his head slightly to see this new girl. What was it about her? Gaara had no idea why he had this fascination with her. Maybe it was a good thing; maybe he could get over Aoi. He shook his head, he remembered his thoughts. She left for a specific reason; he wanted to find out what it was. He had spent enough time fooling around. He looked over at everyone else. Naruto was talking with Hinata, Kiba was trying to flirt with Ino and Sakura was playing with Sasuke's shirt. He frowned; Sasuke's eyes were fixed on Naomi. What was it about Sasuke that had been annoying him the past few days? He shook it off like it was nothing.

Aoi sat at the back of her next class; she sat right in the corner knowing that this was the class where most of her friends were in. Well her friends before she left. She had only just re-met them. She looked up at the math board and scribbled down some notes. She felt a shadow near her. She looked up slightly to find a very attractive red head. He sat down next to her. They were centimetres from each other, she had the urge to hold him, to cry out and tell him everything but she didn't. She sat there in silence for about half an hour. She couldn't take it. She had to say something to him.

"I'm Naomi," she finally said, in a voice just higher than a whisper.

"Gaara," he said and wrote down some more notes from the board.

"Are you any good at maths?" she asked.

"Perhaps," he wasn't very talkative. She remembered him talking more but that's when she was known as Aoi.

"I'm not, I probably need some help," she said nervously. He placed his hand on her notebook. His body slightly overshadowing hers and her own wide eyes looked up at him from under her hoodie. He explained what she was scribbling down while writing a few things on his own there. She didn't know he could be so helpful.

"I didn't think you were the helpful type," she said quietly and his eyes finally looked down at her.

"I'm not," he said then pulled away and looked at his own notebook.

Gaara didn't know what was wrong with him, why was he just automatically helping her. What was it about her that made him fill so comfortable? He hated it. It was like she was Aoi. His head was pulling him apart. As soon as the class finished he pushed everything in his bag and tried to hurry up.

"Thank you," she said just as he got up. He nodded then left unsure of what he was supposed to in that situation. He felt like a high school kid all over again.

Aoi put her stuff in her bag then walked out of the classroom. Her next class was with Neji. She found him before they went to the science lecture hall. Neji didn't really know her as Aoi so it was easy to be 'Naomi' but that wasn't what she came here for. She just needed a friend on the side and Neji was really nice to her. She was more worried about Sasuke in all honestly. It seemed like he was catching on or something. Their final class finished and she gave Neji a hug good bye. He looked at her oddly but hugged her back none the less. She walked out of class and when she had just reached the office when a hand took hers. She turned to see a raven haired boy. Sasuke.

"Uhm, hi?" she said.

"Hello Naomi," he said softly, "I'm Sasuke Uchiha. But then again everyone knows about Uchiha's."

"Your brother is in that world famous band, right?" he cringed at her words.

"Perhaps."

"I, I would like to see them play some time," she was so nervous she thought she would fall down in a heap but she kept her posture.

"Would you?" he sensed an opportunity.

"Yes," she smiled.

"Well maybe, I can make that happen," his lips were placed delicately on her hand before he walked off with that Uchiha smirk of his. Aoi rubbed her hand and frowned. He didn't even know who she was.

Gaara sat in the living room of his house. His feet were up, the TV was on and he was just relaxing. Funnily enough he was watching adventure time; he just had the urge to. Kunkaro was upstairs, he was probably wanking or something, well at least Gaara hoped he wasn't but lately he hasn't left the house. He wondered why but was never too bothered to ask. The TV cut out. Gaara groaned. Everything else was working except for in this room now. He walked behind the TV and tried pushing all the plugs in properly but none of them worked. He went to the basement and tried to fix it from there but it still didn't work.

Realising he wouldn't be able to watch TV or do anything interesting he decided that he should probably leave the house. He got into his car and drove down the familiar streets to their local mall. He walked inside and straight to the large arcade centre. As he walked in he saw someone playing DDR right in the middle of the room. Nobody ever played DDR. He used to play it with Aoi but she wasn't here. His whole body started to ache from the thought of her. He smirked lightly. The girl had a nice ass.

She finished the song and grabbed a drink out of her bag. As she turned around Gaara realised it was Naomi and he blushed ever so slightly. She was flushed red from dancing for hours. She saw him and waved after a brief second of maybe surprise or something. He took it as an invitation and he walked over.

Aoi didn't want him to walk over yet she did want him to. She sighed at her thoughts.

"Wanna verse me?" she said puffing. Gaara just shrugged and she put another coin in. They played the next game and she whooped his ass. She laughed like a child and shoved him a little. He pushed her back and it became a war of pushing for a moment. She laughed and fell to the floor. Gaara helped her up and she grabbed her drink, shoving it back into her bag.

"You lost," she said trying to keep her voice low.

"Sadly."

"You owe me now."

"What do you want?" he sighed.

"An ice cream," she laughed. She grabbed her bag and they both walked out of the arcade together. They made their way over to the ice cream store and ordered their ice creams. Gaara ordered a vanilla ice cream and she ordered the triple choc chip surprise. Gaara frowned, that was Aoi's favourite ice cream from this place. Maybe they just had the same taste in ice cream he thought as he paid for them both. He passed her the ice cream and they sat down at a table to eat. They ate in perfect silence but that was fine for the both of them. He didn't really know what to say, or why he agreed to buying her ice cream and she had realised she was acting too much like herself. Though she didn't want to lie to Gaara about everything. As they got up and idiot tripped and splashed his drink all over the two of them. Gaara looked as if he was about to rip the guy's head off. The idiot boy made a run for it before Gaara could chase after him. Aoi just looked down at her shirt. She wanted to rip the boy's head off as well.

"Do you think I could go to yours and borrow a shirt?" she asked without thinking. She mentally slapped herself in the face; she couldn't go to his house. Gaara just nodded and looked away. She followed him to his car and got into the front seat. When they arrived back at his he opened the door for her. Kunkaro wasn't down stairs and now the living room had electricity. He sighed, of course it did now. Aoi was about to walk up the stairs then she realised that she wasn't supposed to know where his room was or anything. She stood next to the stairs. Gaara looked at her; her black shirt was sticking to her showing her perfectly curvy figure. He blushed and quickly made his way upstairs. She followed him up. He threw a white shirt at her that had a massive skull on it. She asked for the bathroom and he pointed to a door in his room. She walked in there and changed, as she looked at herself in the mirror she had the urge to slap herself. She needed to get out of here, but she didn't want to leave. She sighed. Why did she have to go and make things so complicated? That's when she made the decision that after about a month of living here she'll start confronting everything. It'll give her enough time to plan. She smelt the shirt, it smelt like Gaara. She liked that smell.

Gaara had changed into a plain black shirt, one of the rare plain shirts he owned. She walked out of the bathroom and chucked her clothes in her bag. Gaara noticed that she took her bra off too. It was drenched along with the shirt.

"I'll wash it after and give it back to you," she smiled.

"It's fine," he said.

"Uhm, do you want me to leave?" she eyed him.

He looked at her for a second, "Do you want to?"

She didn't know how to reply to that so she immediately said the first thing that came into her mind, "Do you have anything to drink?"

He nodded and walked downstairs. She still had her bottle of water but at least she wouldn't feel awkward this way. She looked around his room; it had changed a bit since she was in here before. She walked over to his desk and looked at the drawings he had done. She frowned, it started with that picture of the trapped butterfly but as she continued going through them the butterfly seemed to have mended its wings. The butterfly was flying free but there were more drawings. The butterfly was slowly breaking down and its heart was turning to sand. She felt her own heart tightened and she dropped the drawings. She cursed and tried to clean them up.

"Hey little brother," Kunkaro said as he grabbed one of the drinks Gaara was holding. Gaara scowled at him, "Is that Aoi in your room? Did you finally find her?"

"No," was all Gaara could say as he grabbed another drink.

"You sure?"

"Why?"

"They've got the same ass," Gaara threw a coke at Kunkaro's head, "Ouch! What was that for?"

"How do you even know what Aoi's ass looks like?" he said. Kunkaro shrugged.

"So another random girl then? You go to the bar today?"

"No."

"So, that's an actually girl, like an actually girl that you actually have an interest in."

"No…" this time he said it differently. He quickly rushed up the stairs with two cokes. He found the girl sitting on his bed waiting patiently. He handed her the coke. They sat there and talked but only a little bit then she came up with an excuse to leave. She walked out of the house and caught a bus to her neighbourhood. She sat in her apartment. What was she doing? She couldn't play with Gaara's feelings as another person. She wanted to be with him so badly though. She sighed and thought it would be best to leave these thoughts for another night.


	3. Chapter 3

_NARUTO (-__ナルト__-)Masashi Kishimoto & Shueisha._  
_Original Characters & plot belongs to me._

**A Heart of Sand.  
**_A modern day Naruto Fanfiction._

By DetectiveTK (formerly known as Zottiely)

Gaara sat beside the music room, his back against the wall and his butt on the floor. Everyone else was on the green chatting and eating but he just didn't want to interact. He never really want to interact but it was more of the fact that he didn't want to hear them interacting, they make so much noise it drives him insane. He watched as Neji and the new girl appeared. They stood there talking for a while but Gaara wasn't too bothered by what they were saying. She said goodbye then walked off and sat down next to Gaara. He frowned at her then moved away slightly. She kind of annoyed him. He didn't want someone around him like a shadow but it was almost like they were always in the same place.

"Why aren't you with the others?" she pulled her sleeves of her hoodie down as she said it. Gaara thought he saw something but it was probably nothing.

"Because."

"Being anti-social are we?" she knew that she had to keep her cover, she knew she couldn't reveal herself to Gaara but she was still planning how this will all work so she just wanted to be around him.

"Hn."

"Do you have a free period next?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"What are you going to do?"

"Rehearse."

"Rehearse?"

"Sasuke made us form a band," she sniggered slightly.

"Sorry."

"He wants to be better than his brother; he thinks he has better guitar skills or whatever."

"Can I watch?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Why do you ask so many questions?" he got up and walked inside the music room. She sat there against the wall and sighed. He obviously wasn't going to be open to her, he didn't even know her and what she did probably had an effect on him. But she still hated the fact that he kind of snapped. Neji saw her sitting on her own and sat down next to her. She didn't have to say anything and neither did he, was just there as comfort. When it hit eleven o'clock Neji helped Aoi up. She smiled at him before he said goodbye. Aoi wondered what class he had. He walked into the music room. She noticed that Naruto and Sasuke were also in there, along with Sakura. She crouched down in front of the window. She frowned, when did Naruto get his eyebrow pierced?

Naruto sat in front of a drum kit and started hitting it, his smile widened; Aoi knew it was the perfect instrument for him. Sasuke grabbed a dark blue guitar and stood next to Naruto. He plugged his guitar into the amp and they tried getting a few chords and beats together at the same rhythm. They set up a mic. in front of Sasuke as well. Neji grabbed a bass guitar and plugged it into an amp getting it ready to use. She noticed that Hinata was sitting in a corner of the room. Naruto winked at her and her face lit red. Sakura tied back her hair revealing the four piercings she had on her ears and she set up the mic. She frowned what did Gaara play? He walked around and made sure everything was plugged in properly before grabbing another mic. and setting up his own deep crimson guitar. He turned the amp on and they all tested out there instruments and the mics.

"Shall we practise the songs from the set list?" Sakura asked and Sasuke nodded.

She tapped the mic. several times and then they started.

**"King For A Day"**  
**(feat. Kellin Quinn of Sleeping with Sirens)**

_Gaara and Sasuke:_

Dare me to jump off of this Jersey bridge  
I bet you never had a Friday night like this  
Keep it up, keep it up, let's raise our hands  
I take a look up at the sky and I see  
Red for the cancer, red for the wealthy  
Red for the drink that's mixed with suicide  
Everything red

_Sakura:_  
Please, won't you push me for the last time  
Let's scream until there's nothing left  
So sick of playing, I don't want this anymore  
The thought of you's no fucking fun  
You want a martyr, I'll be one  
Because enough's enough, we're done

_Gaara:_  
You told me think about it, well I did  
Now I don't wanna feel a thing anymore  
I'm tired of begging for the things that I want  
I'm over sleeping like a dog on the floor

The thing I think I love  
Will surely bring me pain  
Intoxication, paranoia, and a lot of fame  
Three cheers for throwing up  
Pubescent drama queen  
You make me sick, I make it worse by drinking late

_Sakura:_  
Scream until there's nothing left  
So sick of playing, I don't want to anymore  
The thought of you's no fucking fun  
You want a martyr I'll be one  
Because enough's enough, we're done

_Gaara:_  
You told me think about it, well I did  
Now I don't wanna feel a thing anymore  
I'm tired of begging for the things that I want  
I'm over sleeping like a dog on the floor

_Sakura:_  
Imagine living like a king someday  
A single night without a ghost in the walls  
And if the bass shakes the earth underground

_Gaara and Sakura:_  
We'll start a new revolution now  
(Now! Alright here we go)

_Gaara:_  
Hail Mary, forgive me  
Blood for blood, hearts beating  
Come at me, now this is war!

Fuck with this new beat  
Oh!

_Gaara and Sasuke:_  
Now terror begins inside a bloodless vein  
I was just a product of the street youth rage  
Born in this world without a voice or say  
Caught in the spokes with an abandoned brain  
I know you well but this ain't a game  
Blow the smoke in diamond shape  
Dying is a gift so close your eyes and rest in peace

_Gaara:_  
You told me think about it, well I did  
Now I don't wanna feel a thing anymore  
I'm tired of begging for the things that I want  
I'm over sleeping like a dog on the floor

_Sakura_  
Imagine living like a king someday  
A single night without a ghost in the walls  
We are the shadows screaming take us now

_Gaara:_  
We'd rather die than live to rust on the ground  
Shit

Aoi's eyes were wide. Since when could Gaara sing like that! Let alone play! She knew Sakura was a good singing but Gaara was so, so not sociable. Not lately anyway. And another thing she had notice was his tongue piercing, it made her blush just thinking about it, she kind of had a fetish for guys with tongue piercings, and lip piercings like his. Another thing she noticed was that every time Sakura sang some harsh words she turned to look straight at Sasuke, like she was trying to say something to him but he continued looking down at his guitar.

"You're all so good!" Hinata smiled and they all chuckled a bit.

"Are we going to do bitter sweet memories next?" Sakura asked.

"Didn't we say we'd do that half way through the set?" Naruto was the next to speak.

"Oh right yeah."

They started to play the song 'bad reputation' which was a personal favourite to Sakura. Aoi stared at them all. It was insane how much they had changed and she hadn't even realised it. She fell over and squeaked. Everyone stopped and turned to look at the window. Gaara was the closest so he opened the window and looked down to see Naomi sprawled across the floor.

"I didn't know you have a tongue piercing," she coughed.

Gaara shook his head and offered a hand. Aoi grabbed it and was pulled up.

"Naomi?" Naruto asked smiling at her suddenly, "Why don't you come in?"

Gaara shot a look at Naruto that just made him smile more. Aoi walked around and let herself in; she sat down next to Hinata who was fangirling over Naruto.

"You guys are really good," Aoi told them.

"You really think so?!" Naruto tapped the drums.

"We're opening for Akatsuki in two weeks," Neji told her, "Care to come and watch?"

"Uhm," she looked at them all, "I don't know if I can go."

"You can come and stay at my house, we'll have a huge sleepover afterwards," Sakura pitched. If Aoi stayed with Sakura and Hinata everything should be fine, she figured.

"Yeah sure," she smiled. They continued their practise as they went through the set list; they didn't play any of the slower songs today during rehearsal because they were going to go through them tomorrow. Once they had gone through the set they all dropped their instruments and grabbed some drinks and relaxed. Naruto moved away from his drums and fell onto the floor tired. Hinata squeaked and ran over to him. Naruto smiled and pulled her down for a kiss. Aoi rolled her eyes at the couple. Sasuke and Sakura were having a conversation in the corner about something, Sakura wasn't too happy though.

"I didn't know you could sing," she said to Gaara.

"Why would you know that?"

She blushed slightly, she didn't know why but she just did. She turned around to say something to Neji but he had taken his top off and was searching his bag for a new one. Aoi's face went completely red at the sight of Neji's body. He was ripped and it was absolutely insane. She turned back around to face Gaara to hide her blush. She pulled her hoodie up. Gaara looked at her and raised a non-existent eyebrow. She smiled sheepishly.

"I like your top," Gaara told Apo as his hands swam through his bag. She looked down and realised she was wearing her pyjama top. It was an Alice in wonderland top and it was obvious that it was a pyjama top. She zipped up her hoodie to hide it.

"Speaking of tops," Aoi realised something and grabbed Gaara's top out of her bag, "I washed your shirt for you."

"Whoa hang on a minute!" Naruto yelped moving away from Hinata, Gaara and Aoi realised he had been watching them, "What happened last night between you two? You guys only just met and she's already wearing your shirts? Wow you move fast Gaara!"

They both went bright red.

"It's not like that," Aoi was the first to speak.

"She just needed a t-shirt Naruto."

"And why would she need a t-shirt," he nudged Gaara.

"Because some idiot spilled his drink on her."

"Right a drink," he winked and Aoi continued going red. Gaara suddenly became the colour of his hair and he grabbed Naruto's arm. Naruto yelped as Gaara dragged him outside.

"What are you doing?" Gaara said harshly, he only showed real emotion around Naruto.

"What do you mean?" Gaara glared at him, "Sorry but come on mate, that's what it looked like."

Gaara muttered something.

"You like her don't you?" he asked and Gaara went pink.

"I do not."

"Right, I'm sure. Gaara you don't give your shirt up to just anyone. Dude I know I shouldn't bring her up but this is exactly how you acted when you first met Aoi," Naruto looked at him intently.

"Piss off."

"You at least think she's hot don't you?"

Gaara went the colour of his hair then rushed inside and slammed the door shut. He locked it from the inside so Naruto couldn't get in. Everyone looked at him. He ignored their stares and walked back over to his bag. Aoi eyed him.

"What as that about?"

"He's annoying," Gaara replied and zipped his bag up. It was almost twelve which was lunch break for everyone. Aoi turned to see Sakura and Sasuke still talking but she looked more relaxed like he had calmed her down. He kissed her lips gently and embraced her. Aoi didn't get Sasuke or what he was about. He fucks all the girls but the one he truly loves. Aoi shook her head at the thought. There was a knock at the window and everyone turned around to see Naruto smiling sheepishly.

There all sat on the green once again. Sasuke wasn't staring at Aoi this time and he was actually paying his full attention to Sakura. Aoi was talking to Tenten for a moment since they had only just met. Aoi had the feeling that Tenten kind of like Neji. She smiled and let her talk to Neji. She saw that Gaara was lying down a bit further away from them. She walked over to where he was lying down and sat on his stomach so her face was directly over his.

"What are you doing?" he said bored.

"Why are you always on your own?"

"I like to think. I like to be away," he turned to look at something else.

"What do you like to think about?"

"You're doing that thing where you ask too many questions again."

"What's up with those two?" Neji asked looking over to see Aoi on top of Gaara.

"I think they're into each other," Ino rolled her eyes.

"I think it'll actually do him good, you know after Aoi left," Sakura's voice had sadness in it. Sasuke pulled her closer to him.

"He's moving on her fast," Naruto said proud of his boy.

"More like she's moving on him fast," Sasuke smirked.

"I don't think it's like that," Hinata said without stuttering, Naruto looked at her, "Gaara's still not over Aoi, I don't think he returns her affections."

"Oh come on Hinata, don't you remember that year he spent abroad?" Ino laughed.

"He was heartbroken then, though," Naruto clarified.

"I'm sorry," Aoi got off Gaara and sat beside him. He turned to look at her and sighed.

"I was thinking about my girlfriend."

"Your girlfriend?" Aoi said surprised.

"Well, we did break up, well I don't know. It happened three years ago, I don't want to talk about it," Aoi felt a rip in her heart. She put her hand on his.

"It's okay," she said lightly.

He pushed her hand away, "No, it's not. I spent practically all of my time looking for her and could never find her! Do you understand how that feels? I don't even remember what she looks like! I get blinded by everything else and it drives me insane, there's a reason why I'm quiet it's so everything doesn't come out! It's safer for everyone else! You're lucky I haven't hit you like I hit most when they ask! She was perfect! She was mine! She loved me! Then something happened. I don't even know what it was. I should've known something was up but I didn't. It's not until a few days ago that I figured it wasn't all her fault, someone forced her into it. It was their _revenge. _But I don't know if it was meant for her or for me. It doesn't even matter because it hurt me more!"

Aoi felt the tears form in her eyes but she had to push them back. It honestly felt like someone pushed their hand into her body and clenched her heart and started twisting it while he was talking. What was she meant to do now? She didn't know what she was supposed to do. She wanted to confess everything but it had only been a few days. She was happy he at least started talking to her, he opened up a bit.

"I do understand," she said.

Gaara looked at her weirdly, unsure if she actually did understand. He had no idea what made him blurt it all out but he just had to; it had been locked up inside him for such a long period of time that he could feel the insanity following his body around. He looked away and ignored her existence for a while. He couldn't afford to tell this stranger more.


	4. Chapter 4

_NARUTO (-__ナルト__-)Masashi Kishimoto & Shueisha._  
_Original Characters & plot belongs to me._

**A Heart of Sand.  
**_A modern day Naruto Fanfiction._

By DetectiveTK (formerly known as Zottiely)

**NOTE: I am so terribly sorry I didn't upload this on Friday because I usually upload a new chapter on Friday but my word wasn't working and I was freaking out ): so I had to RESTART and right it on wordpad ): then when I got half way through it word decided to suddenly start working on Saturday grrr. So I decided to write NINE pages to show how truly sorry I am. Yeah, I worked hard on this. Not only that but this should hopefully tie up with the first story (Broken Wings) well, because I'm hoping it actually does and I hope it brings back memories of that one . oh and another thing, I did do a re-write to Broken Wings, and this whole story kind of references that a bit more than anything else. And if the story Broken Wings were to have a theme song what would it be, and if this story were to have a theme song what would you like it to be?**

Aoi sat on the grass, legs crossed, rocking back and forth as she watched everyone. She felt kind of awkward around these people; she knew them so well yet she had to pretend that she didn't really know them at all. Neji was the only person she really talked to since he was in all of her classes. Besides, he didn't go to the same high school as her so she didn't have to hide as much. He was off doing some martial arts training with Lee and Tenten. She had no idea where Gaara was as she convinced herself to try and be friends with him. She talked to Sakura a fair bit but she was too busy in Sasuke's arms. She wondered how that even happened. She was so happy it did, happy for them. Even if she wanted to hate Sasuke, she was happy for him, he was finally able to find someone. She even wanted to know the story of Naruto and Hinata. How did that come to pass? Ino was continuously flirting with Kiba but it seemed as if those two weren't actually going out or anything like that which surprised Aoi the most. Shino still hadn't left his science class and Choji was sitting there eating. Shikamaru had graduated last year; he had been put up a year in high school due to his intelligence. Even though he slept through almost every class.

"Are we going to the beach today?" Hinata looked at Sakura.

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot about it," Sakura looked at Aoi, "I totally forgot to invite you too! It doesn't matter I'm dragging you with me!"

"Wait what?" Aoi stared at Sakura.

"We're having a beach party and I forgot to invite you!"

"Oh," Aoi played with the sleeves of her jacket, "I don't have any bathers..."

"It's fine, you can borrow some of mine, I don't even wear half of them," she smiled. Aoi looked at her nervously.

Once their lunch break was over Sakura dragged Aoi to her house. Aoi sighed as she was thrown into Sakura's room. She had never been here before. It was a very normal looking room. Sakura had clothes everywhere though which made Aoi smile. She dug through her draws and grabbed a blank bikini before throwing it at Aoi. Sakura showed her the bathroom and Aoi got changed. The black contrasted against her sickly skin. She pulled on her hoodie to cover her arms. She slowly walked towards Sakura's room. Sakura wore a hot pink biking with a sun hat. She smiled at Aoi; she noticed that Sakura's hair was shorter than she remembered.

"Oh come on silly, take off that jacket. It's too hot to wear it," Sakura moved towards her before Aoi backed away, "suit yourself Naomi."

She frowned at Aoi moving away from her but quickly shrugged it off. They grabbed some towel and a beach ball before getting into Sakura's car. When they arrived at the beach there were various other people there. Aoi's feet sunk into the sand, it felt nice and cool. It almost made her relax. She caught the beach ball that Sakura threw at her and walked over to where everyone else was. She threw the ball at Naruto who caught it happily. Sakura ran down towards everyone with the towels. She passed one to Aoi before jumping down next to Sasuke. He chuckled. He actually chuckled, a genuine chuckle of love and care that Aoi had never heard. Even though he had kissed Aoi's hand just the other day, maybe he truly had a different side. She placed her towel down next to her before she sat on the sand. She could feel the heat through her hoodie but she didn't take it off. It'll be cooler soon anyway.

Tenten, Lee and Neji arrived soon. They put up a volleyball net for everyone to play. Tenten and Lee started a match between each other. While Neji came over to Aoi and sat down next to her. She was alone and he thought that maybe she would like to talk to him. She didn't say a word. Naruto jumped up and pulled Hinata to her feet. She wore a top and shorts over her bathers. They played against Tenten and Lee, they actually held their place but not once did Tenten lose the ball. She had perfect aim, just as Aoi remembered it.

"She's really good," Aoi commented.

"Yeah, she is," Neji smiled at Aoi.

"You don't have to sit with me; you can verse them if you want."

"It's alright. That would only make the teams uneven. Unless you want me to go?"

"No, no, no," she said nervously.

Gaara groaned as he got out of the car. Kunkaro had been driving and she hated it when Kunkaro drove, it made him feel sick. He got out quickly. He turned around and helped Ai out. He held her in his arms. He showed her a fair bit of affection, this three year old. He knew why and it burnt him inside, they were just so alike he couldn't help it. Come to think of it he even thought that she was a bit like 'Naomi'. She wore a small panda hat, kind of like Aoi's spirit hood. Gaara had bought it for Ai since she continuously called him a panda. The hat was kind of crooked on her head. Temari smiled at the two of them. When Gaara was around Ai he didn't think. Temari had no problem trusting Gaara with her daughter. He is nothing like their father was to him. She thought that perhaps he acted the way he did because of how their father acted towards him.

Gaara put Ai on the floor. Temari held her little girl's hand. Gaara walked around to the boot and grabbed out his towel and the cooler. They had agreed to bring the cooler with all of the drinks in it. Shikamaru dragged his feet around and took his towel. He bent down so he was his daughter's height. He smiled at her widely then put his towel over his shoulder.

"Daddy, can I have a piggy back ride?" she smiled at him.

"Sure thing honey," he smiled before turning around. Ai jumped on his back and he smiled as he made his way towards everyone else. Temari scowled at him for not helping the others with the cooler or even wait for her. But she couldn't help but smile for a moment. She grabbed her towel and another beach ball before walking after them. Kunkaro and Gaara dragged the cooler down towards everyone else. Naruto completely ditched the game and ran to get a drink, Sakura joined him. Gaara sighed and sat a few steps away from everyone else. He didn't want to be with the crowds.

Neji decided to join everyone in volleyball for a while. Aoi looked over at him. He was like he used to be. Before she opened him up. All of her work was for nothing. She wanted to tell him it was her but she couldn't even bring herself to do that. She pulled her hood up; it had panda ears and a panda face. She looked down at her feet as they fiddled with the sand. A pair of small feet stood on hers. Tiny toes moving about. Aoi frowned and looked up. A little girl with the widest smile she had ever seen stood in front of her. She wore bright blue bathers and a small panda hat.

"You've got a hat like mine!" she yelped.

She looked at the girl then touched her own hood, "I guess I do."

"Yup! We're like twins!"

"I wouldn't say that..."

"Why not? We could be twins!"

She looked at the little girl, her hair was dark, her eyes were a green colour and her skin was tanned from the sun.

"Uncle Gaara gave me this hat! He's over there!" she pointed to the red head sitting away from the crowd, "he's being grumpy again."

Aoi looked over at Gaara. So this was Temari's child? Aoi knew it had to be, hers and Shikamaru's. She smiled at the red headed boy; he had gotten his niece a panda hat. It was cute. Even Aoi could see that. It was the first time in a while that she felt a caring loving smile upon her face.

"My name's Ai!" Aoi turned back to the little girl. Ai?

"That's a lovely name."

"My mummy and uncle say that it's a special name."

"A special name? Why is it so special?"

Ai sat down next to Aoi. She didn't even know the answer.

"I'm A-" she paused and looked at the child, "Naomi."

Gaara sat there in the sand. The sand felt natural against him, it was one of the things he couldn't explain like this pull against the new girl. He felt as if he knew her. It was like something was pulling him towards her. He cursed himself for even wanting to be near her, he had to sort this thing out about Aoi.

His hands started to create a sand castle or something. He didn't think about it he just did it as he thought about everything. He remembered every little happy moment with Aoi. It made him smile. It always did. He remembered how she always slept in his bed, he remembered the first kiss they had at that concert, he remembered the very song that was playing, he remembered how she would cry in almost every movies, and how she fell asleep during that one movie, he remembered how she was that one time she was drunk, he remembered her panda spirit hood, he remembered how good she was at guitar hero, and he even remembered the kind of underwear she wore. He blushed vividly as he thought of it. Sighing he lied down in the sand. He noticed that his sister was standing next to him. She wore a purple and white striped bikini top, a white open button up top and some white shorts. She sat down next to her brother as she looked towards the horizon.

"You're thinking about her again aren't you?"

"You can tell."

"It's the way your face changes. You start off with a smile of sadness, then it changes to a caring, loving smile and then you go bright red as you remember other things."

Gaara turned away from Temari. He didn't want to face her.

"I miss her too you know. She's like a sister to me. When you weren't by her side I could talk to her about my problems, I could talk to her about boys; I could talk to her about everything. I didn't really have any real girlfriends throughout college, you know that. Even Kankuro misses her."

"He misses looking at her ass," Gaara muttered.

"Gaara. You know your brother is more than that," she shot a look at him.

He turned his head to look at his sister, "I don't care what you have to say."

"Gaara..."

"Go away."

Temari looked at her little brother. She remembered how Aoi drove him to insanity once before, she made him feel an intense verse of different emotions. Temari didn't want to awaken that.

"I said, go away!" his face started to change. Temari looked at him sadly before getting up. Gaara laid in the sand feeling relaxed once again. He didn't want to think about Aoi. He looked over to the new girl that sat next to Ai. What about her? Why did he even let her borrow his shirt? Why did he let that annoyance hang around him? He sighed. He already knew the answer. It was because she was just like Aoi, yet he didn't know that she actually was.

Aoi tried to build a sand castle with Ai. Aoi was terrible at it but Ai seemed to be pretty good at it. From what Aoi had been told, Ai who had been talking about her Uncle Gaara or Uncle Panda as she called him several times, he spent a lot of time with her. He told her stories and built sand castles with her. It game Temari and Shikamaru some time to breath as well. Aoi felt a shadow being cast across her back. She turned around to see Shikamaru. He sat in front of Aoi and Ai. Aoi looked at him oddly as he helped Ai make a sand castle. She had seen him around a few times at schools and around Gaara's house. She knew him mainly for reputation, lazy but insanely smart.

"Hey Ai, why don't you help Gaara with his sand castle?" he smiled at Ai. She nodded and ran towards Gaara, falling over a few times. Gaara sat up and let Ai run into his arms.

"I didn't know you were back, Aoi," he stated simply. She shot a look at him, a confused one.

"I, I'm not Aoi," she smiled nervously.

"I may not have spent every single moment with you but that makes it easier for me to identify you compared to the others," he looked straight at her.

"What are you-"

"It's the way you act, the way you look at Gaara, the way your being pulled towards him due to your old ties that you want to fix. Your left ear is pierced from top to bottom," she touched her ear to realize he was right, she didn't even think that anyone had noticed that back then, "you're wearing a panda jacket and pandas were your favourite thing because it reminded you of Gaara. They also remind Gaara of you, that's why Ai has a panda hat. Your belly is also pierced with a small panda hanging off of it. I can also tell your wearing contacts by the way you blink, so I know it's not your real eye colour and a bit of blue is showing in your hair."

Aoi touched her stomach before reaching her hair.

"I-I," she stared at him.

"You don't need to admit it. I'm not the one that needs to know but I think you owe Gaara an explanation, out of all us."

"You can pick up on things really well…" she pulled her legs up and hugged them.

"Ai reminds Gaara of you."

He groaned as he got up and walked over to Temari. He kissed her lips delicately. Aoi shuddered suddenly. She was once told that you get shivers down you back when the soul of someone who cares about you passes through you. She wondered about that sometimes. She looked over to Ai and Gaara. He was so kind and caring with the little girl. Ai reminds Gaara of her. She felt the urge to cry again. She felt weak, only the weak cry and she cried so much. Not just because of things that hurt but she cried watching most movies and shows.

The guys continued to play volley ball as the girls got drinks. Choji sat on the ground eating some fish and chips he got from the store nearby. The girls sat around Aoi trying to get her to join in. She just shook her head. Sakura and Tenten both ran into the water followed by Ino. Aoi watched as Temari and Shikamaru took Ai into the water leaving Gaara by himself.

"N-Naomi?" Aoi looked up to see Hinata.

"Hi Hinata," she smiled and Hinata sat down next to her.

"Uh how are you?"

"I'm great, I guess."

"Oh, that's good. It's just…Gaara, he, he um-"

"What is it Hinata?"

"N-Naruto knows him better than anyone else and w-well, Gaara he's just, delicate. Uh-I, we can all tell that there's a connection between you two. Like the one he had with Aoi. It's j-just, he was badly hurt. Worse than you could imagine. He was, out of sorts I j-just, wanted to tell you to uh be careful. You won't know what's going on till too late," she tried smiling but she couldn't.

"What do you mean? Out of sorts? Worse than I can imagine?" Aoi wondered what she had put him through.

"Just be careful," she smiled before making her way into the water. Naruto saw her pass and ran into the water after her. He grabbed her around the waist and spun her around in the water. Aoi wondered what it was that she had put him through. She looked over to him. She frowned there were a bunch of girls sitting behind the bushes near him. Maybe they were watching Sasuke. Aoi shrugged at it. She saw all of the boys run into the water. Shino sat near the edge but didn't go in. Lee was swimming across the water as much as he could for as long as possible. Neji came and stood in front of her. Aoi was going through a lot of socialization today.

"Are you going to come in for a swim?"

She looked up at him, "Um, no, I just don't feel like it."

"Are you sure?"

"Maybe later," she smiled. Neji nodded and walked off. Lee begged him to a race in the water. She blushed madly noticing Neji's muscles ones again. She needed to get away from everyone before someone came up to her again. She didn't want to socialize; she wasn't like she used to be. She just wanted to be with Gaara and get rid of Sasuke. She suddenly noticed that she hadn't even said goodbye to Itachi. She felt the need for a brotherly hug. She got up quickly noticing Kankuro smiling at her. She waved politely before squandering away to where Gaara was.

Gaara noticed the girl coming towards him. She lay down next to him. He frowned; he didn't invite her to come and sit down with him. He wasn't too bothered though, he was staying quiet, maybe she just wanted to get away too. He heard giggling. He looked at the girl, it wasn't her. He looked behind him. Not them again.

"Will you just go away!" he yelped at them.

"But Gaara-sama," one of them, probably the youngest of the four looked at him with big wide eyes. They were almost the colour of ash.

"I never asked you to be here."

"But we wanted to be," said the one who looked the oldest. Aoi frowned, what do those girls have to do with Gaara. And since when did he talk to girls outside of his circle?

"The guy doesn't want you here, so go," Aoi told them.

"You're not his girlfriend, you get no say in this," another one of them smirked. Oh how Aoi wanted to punch that girl in the face, she felt the rage build in her. They had no idea.

"Oh yeah!" she got up and stomped over to them, the girls ran away fast.

"Uh…" Gaara looked at her.

"I hate people," she muttered before sitting back down next to him.

"You're not the only one," there was just something about her, "Why'd you come over here?"

"You looked lonely, I thought you needed a play mate," she teased, "I just wanted to get away."

"Away from what?"

Everything, "it's just, people make me nervous. Well most people anyway."

Gaara nodded and looked at his sand castle. Even Aoi had no idea that he was so creative with sand, she knew he could draw and do sculptures but she hadn't even thought about him using sand as artwork. She frowned, the art work in his room, those paintings, one was of a butterfly with broken wings, it was much like the one she drew on her first day at Konoha High.

"I-uh, Gaara. The other day when I was, in your room, I uh kind of went through your stuff…" he shot her a death glare, she had seen this glare on other people but she never thought he would glare at her like that, it kind of hurt her, "I just- I wanted to see your drawings and, there was one-uh, of a butterfly with broken wings. It was trapped in a cage where the sun didn't shine- what was that about?"

Gaara looked at her intently. He didn't know why he felt like he could tell her every single devouring detail of his life but he knew he could. He had never even spoken to anyone about his art except for Aoi and she rarely even saw those pieces of art.

"The first day Aoi arrived at high school I saved her from someone. When she left I noticed a picture that she had painted/drawn. It reminded me of my life until that point and it made me think that maybe we had the same sort of story. I took the painting and as the months went by and I was at her side she changed, she grew and so did I. It's as if the picture symbolizes the beginning of us, we were both broken even if she never admitted it," he chuckled slightly, "we mended our wings and now all we have left are crumbles. The very day she left I was distraught, not like I usually am, I couldn't even rage. I just sat there, dead till I decided to do something. I drew that, it was an exact copy of her original art work that I took from the art room. Yet I didn't even have wings anymore."

He stared at his sand castle. She hated what she did ever since she did it but she couldn't take it back now. Gaara hit the sand castle causing the sand to splay across the ground. He trudged off somewhere. Aoi didn't see where he had gone but he was definitely out of sight. She hated this. She hated it all. She hated every single stupid thing that she had ever done. She hated that she had made Gaara feel love. She hated that she still loved him. She hated every single fight they had and every single fight they could've had. She hated everything. She continuously punched the sand causing spicks to fly everywhere. Once she had finished with her outrage she just sat there, breathing heavily. No one had even noticed her.

She could feel the rays of sunlight start to disappear as the sun began to set. She walked over to the water. Her hood was over and she tugged on her sleeves. She let the water reach mid-thigh before stopping. Neji walked over to her.

"The water isn't that bad is it?" he noticed her shivering.

"Just give me a sec to adjust," she smiled at him. He put his arm around her to try and keep her warm. She felt the warmth of his body against hers which made her go a little red, he was warm but it wasn't the same kind of warmth she received from Gaara. Tenten splashed some water at the two of them, her face was full of jealousy for a moment then happy the next. Neji splashed some water at her. They ended up starting a water fight. Aoi got hit with plenty of water which drenched her jacket. She did throw any water back. She sighed and went to sit on the sand just in front of the water. Once the sun went down the others ran off to get some drinks and their towels. Choji was ordering pizza for everyone.

Aoi felt something crawling down her arm; she jumped slightly before noticing it was a lady bug. She remembered Itachi once telling her that lady bugs give you good luck. She smiled at it.

"Did she frighten you?" a voice came, she looked up to realize that Shino was sitting in front of her.

"Yeah a little bit," Aoi chuckled; she didn't need to deny it. Shino's hands took the lady bug off of Aoi. She smiled at him before continuing to watch the water.

Gaara sat on the concrete beside Kankuro's car. The path way had become cooler now due to the sun setting. Gaara wished to be on the sand, it was one of the things he loved, sand, but he couldn't be near her. She made him remember, she made him speak about his feelings. He just wanted to bottle them all up. He didn't want to have a confrontation about everything. All he knew is that he wanted Aoi back and that he wanted to do everything to get her to come back. He loved her but he didn't want her to come back so they could forget about what had happened and be together, no he wanted her to come back so she could explain. He knew there would be a lot of yelling involved and he knew he would yell at her over and over again for leaving. He was empty for such a long time. He still felt empty. He just wanted to know more than anything; he wanted to know who want revenge on her or even him. Whoever it was, he was going to kill them. He was going to stop at nothing. He cursed. The only thing that had filled part of that void was Ai, it was probably because he made her seem like Aoi but he just didn't know what it was that made Ai remind him of Aoi. He knew it had something to do with the panda thing. Not only that but this 'Naomi' girl, she had an effect on him that he wanted to throw away. He had no problem admitting to himself if someone was attractive, and he knew she was but was that the only thing that had power over him. He sighed and rested his head again the car.

Shino had left Aoi's side to go get pizza. Everyone was having some but Aoi didn't feel like eating, she hardly ever ate now. She was wondering who would come up to her next for a chat. She sighed hoping it was anyone but Sasuke. She actually wanted to talk to Tenten, she was good friends with her in high school but Aoi went by a different name now and she had the feeling that Tenten to like her much. That's when Aoi remembered that Neji was the guy that went to boarding school with a private martial arts program. Tenten used to talk about him all of the time. Aoi mentally hit herself.

"Naomi?" Naruto called from his seat. Hinata took a bite out of his pizza, she didn't really want any and Naruto had plenty. She just had a few bites. Aoi didn't really hear Naruto from where she was sitting.

"I'll go get her," he kissed Hinata's forehead and put down his plate of pizza on his towel next to Hinata.

Aoi played with her sleeves; she rolled them up because of all of the water that drenched her jacket. She shuddered slightly at the cold air. She looked down at her wrists, those cuts were healing.

"Naomi?" Naruto's voice was full of worry; she quickly pulled down her sleeves as he plunged down next to her, "What was that?"

"What was what?"

"You've got cuts, on your arms. What happened?"

"Oh, it's nothing."

"That doesn't look like nothing."

"Well it is alright. Just drop it."

Naruto looked at her before looking out at the water.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"It's fine, I didn't really grow up with that many friends until I was about twelve. I like to cherish every friend I have, even when I haven't known them for long, and I just need to make sure they're all okay."

"Why do you feel you need to put that pressure on yourself?"

"It sounds strange but I want to be able to take care of everyone in this city. I want to be the prime-minister or something. I just need to help people; I need to be the best of the best."

She looked at him as he looked out to sea, "does everyone know you feel that way?"

"Yeah," he smiled a little, "they all laughed at me the first time they heard it but now…now I think they're starting to believe it."

She smiled at him, "well I believe it Naruto. You know, if you look at the waves long enough, they speak to you. They make things seem clearer. It's like your life is laid out in front of you, you jumped out and ran full pelt, and your ambition was so high that everyone laughed. But you still wanted to take things head on like the waves but you didn't realize what would happen if you ran out head first. You created a disturbance but somehow you became the waves, she calmed yourself to a point where they can see where you're coming from. You're like a wave Naruto."

He stared at her; it was almost like déjà vu to him. He smiled.

"Yeah, I guess I am," he scratched the back of his neck, "Do you want to get some pizza? Even Hinata can't resist it."

Aoi saw Hinata secretly biting on one of Naruto's slices, she smiled at the girl.

"No thank you, I have to go somewhere. Can you say goodbye to everyone for me?"

"Sure. Where you going?"

"Somewhere I haven't been in a long time."

Gaara smiled as the little girl ran up to him. He was surprised that he hadn't gotten sick of her yet. She sat down in Gaara's lap and he untangled her hair.

"Where are your mum and dad?"

"I don't know," she crossed her arms.

Gaara laughed a little as he scanned the area for his sister and Shikamaru. He saw them at a different part of the beach. They were in the water and Gaara couldn't even tell what they were doing. He sighed. Of course they left the kid with him. He saw Kankuro walk up towards the car. Gaara kissed the little girl's forehead, close to her panda hat then lifted her up. He put her in Kunkaro's arms.

"I need to borrow your car."

"You're not going there again are you?" Kankuro looked at him knowing the answer, "Gaara…"

"Take care of Ai, don't just leave her okay," his voice was stern.

"I don't want to stay with him!" Ai yelped, she was a loud child.

"I know you don't but if you get a secret out of him I'll buy you a present," Gaara smiled at the little girl, even Kankuro marveled at how different he was around her.

"Okay!" she smiled and tugged at Kankuro's hair. Gaara turned his attention to the car as he got in. The keys were already inside. He waved goodbye to Ai, not caring about his brother and drove off. He drove down the roads and luckily there was no traffic. He reached one of the rare forests in Konoha's city. He parked the car and got out, taking the keys with him. He walked through the lovely pine trees to that one tree on the cliff. It looked over all of Konoha city. That tree had white flowers that bloomed vividly, but ever since Aoi left it was like the tree was dying, most of it was just buds or wilted flowers. Gaara frowned when he saw it; a few of the buds had become flowers. What on earth was that supposed to mean? He walked towards the tree and placed his hand on the trunk of it. The trunk didn't feel week like it did a few months ago. He tilted his head slightly. He could hear something. It was a song, not only that but there was someone singing the song. He frowned; he knew that song far too well. He took a few steps and saw someone leaning against the tree.

Aoi didn't notice Gaara staring at her. She had wondered what had happened to this tree; it looked as if it had been dying or something. She muttered the words to the song that played when she first kissed Gaara. She was glad it was one of the one's Itachi had written. She took another moment to miss the brotherly love she had, she barely even thought about it when she got here. She let her eyes wander before jumping. Gaara was standing there looking at her confused.

"Uh hi?" she said as her hood fell over her eyes.

"What are you doing here?"

"Uh…" she stared at him.

"Nobody knows about this tree, not in this forest."

"It's not really a forest anymore, is it?" she sighed and came up with something, "I saw this tree a few days ago from the city center, well I saw the cliff to be honest I just wanted to have uh…a look at the view."

He sighed and sat down next to her.

"More remnants of girlfriend's past?" she smiled.

"Yeah, I just wished I knew why. I wish I knew who was behind it all. I know she's not perfect, hell I'm not perfect but she's perfect to me and I don't know why anyone would hurt her. But there are many reasons why someone would hurt me. Even after she left."

"What happened after she left?" Aoi was getting curious now, she knew Gaara's views on a few things but she knew the story far better than anyone else but she didn't know anything about what happened after.

"After she left, I search for her, it consumed me until that one year where-" he looked at her eager eyes, he didn't need to tell her, "It's none of your business."

He didn't want her to know. No one truly knew, they knew bits and pieces of it and they heard rumors. Gaara felt lucky that Aoi had created this group of friends for him, he never thought he would ever say that but they believed in him, they didn't doubt him, they understood parts of him. But this girl knew nothing of anything; he saw no reason to tell her.

Aoi sat there saddened. She needed to find out what happened; it could change everything.


	5. Chapter 5

_NARUTO (-__ナルト__-)Masashi Kishimoto & Shueisha._  
_Original Characters & plot belongs to me._

**A Heart of Sand.  
**_A modern day Naruto Fanfiction._

By Tiffany (so much easier than writing my user name)

**Note: refers to my re-write of broken wings.**

Gaara hugged his legs tightly. It was as if he was trying to break his own legs. He was rocking ever so slightly that he didn't even notice. He was remembering. He remembered that night when he kissed her neck and bit down causing her to moan loudly. His skin touched hers and he felt an electric pulse shoot through him, he remembered kissing her hips and how she went weak at that. He remembered her biting into his shoulder and how she nibbled against him. He remembered it so vividly but he often forgot her face. When you love someone your vision can get cloudy. Her body shape started to change and morph into other girls.

He threw his bed sheets off of the bed in rage. He couldn't handle this, why couldn't he handle this? He let the rage consume him as he ripped up the bed sheets and punched against the wall. Kankuro ran into his room hearing him puff and growl as he ruined parts of his room. Gaara threw his lamp at the ground causing the light bulb to shatter into pieces.

"Gaara!" Kankuro yelped at him. Gaara snarled at his older brother giving him a death glare that used to send him running. His hands turned to fists and soon he was pelting towards Kankuro. Kankuro grabbed his fists and pushed his baby brother to the ground, holding him tightly. He held Gaara's hands behind his back as he sat upon his little brother. He was waiting for his brother to calm down. It wasn't going to be soon. Gaara snapped and raged underneath the weight of his brother.

"Gaara!"

"Weak! I'm Weak! You're nothing! Why can't I-" he squirmed under his brother. He pushed Kankuro a bit. He yelped as he tried to keep Gaara down.

"Where the fuck is Temari when you need her?" Kankuro squirmed wishing for his sister's help. She knew how to take care of things, how to calm Gaara down. All Kankuro knew was that this was all about Aoi. As always. Gaara got one hand free and hit Kankuro with it. He moved from under him over to the door. He rushed down stairs and broke on of the chairs. He heard a noise near the front door. Naruto stood there staring at Gaara. He had seen him like this too many times. The voice in the back of Gaara's head told him to attack Naruto. It told him that Naruto was worthless and knew nothing. Gaara raged and ran at Naruto. Naruto dodged to the side and Gaara came again. Kankuro was running down the stairs now. He jumped onto Gaara putting him to the ground. Gaara struggled under his weight once again, almost getting free. Naruto held him down as well. They held him for about half an hour until he calmed down. The two of the got off of Gaara and looked at him. Gaara only snarled and made his way upstairs.

"It's been getting worse," Kankuro expressed his concern for his younger brother as he went to get some coke.

"I wonder why," Naruto caught the coke can that Kankuro threw at him.

"That new chick was over a while ago, what's her story?"

"I dunno," Naruto took a sip of his drink, "she showed up, you know transferred in and all but none of us really know her that well now that I think about it. She hangs with Neji a lot, he might know something about her, oh and she's been to Sakura's house. She reminds Hinata of Aoi but Aoi was so much louder and looked different. This girl seems more, I dunno depressed? Shy?"

Kankuro gave it some thought, "she did remind me of Aoi at first but…"

Kankuro didn't know how to finish it, he didn't really know the girl but she definitely reminded him of Aoi. Sure her appearance was different but there was something that he couldn't quiet put his finger on. He heard Gaara groan. He must've been standing there on the steps for a while listening to their conversation.

"Remember we have our performance tonight with the Akatsuki, so don't chuck a fit on us alright," Naruto smiled a cheesy smile. They walked out of the house and got into Gaara's car for rehearsals at the uchiha mansion.

"So how's it going with Naomi?" Naruto laughed.

"Nothing has happened between us, at all."

"Yeah but you think she's hot so something's bound to happen," Naruto laughed a little.

"I'm not like that."

"How about when-"

Gaara stopped the car causing Naruto to fly forward suddenly. The seatbelt luckily stopped him from being pushed into the front window.

"Hey what was that for?!"

"You don't know what happened."

"I know enough! Gaara, you can't hide behind Aoi's shadow forever!"

"I'm not hiding behind her shadow!"

"What about this morning? It wasn't that long ago! You were like your old self."

"It was nothing."

"Nothing?! Argh! That was more than nothing!" Naruto yelped. He looked at Gaara; Naruto didn't feel the anger throughout himself leaving. He could see that Gaara's hands were shaking on the wheel.

"I'm sorry," Naruto finally moved back in his seat.

"Shut up," Gaara's voice was unusually calm as he continued driving. Naruto couldn't help but look at Gaara the whole time. He was shaking, even as he drove. When Naruto looked away he immediately thought of 'Naomi'. There was something about that moment a while back, when they were on the beach. He thought of her arms, how pale and sickly they were, how there were cuts all the way up them. The words she said to him, it was like it had happened before, something like that at least. Naruto frowned trying to think about it.

They pulled up at the mansion. Gaara knew it well from the time that Aoi had stayed there. He practically stalked her. He smiled a little at the thought of her but the smile quickly faded. He grabbed his guitar out of the back and brought it inside. Naruto grabbed his drum sticks and walked in after him. He jumped on the couch and started watching TV. Neji hadn't arrived yet but Sakura was sitting on Sasuke's lap. He looked at her like he had never looked at someone before; he played with her hair a little as Sakura watched the TV from the couch. Once upon a time, Naruto was the one wanting Naruto's affections but things changed. Gaara ignored them all as he walked over to where the drums had already been set up. He plugged in his guitar and sat on the floor strumming it, practicing a few chords. After a while Gaara got bored of playing the guitar and put it back on the floor. The others weren't bothering with practice until Neji arrived.

Sakura heard a knock at the door. She got off of Sasuke's lap and he looked at her with a small amount of longing that he didn't want to show. She opened it to find Neji at the door. He held his bass in hand. Beside him was Hinata and Aoi.

Sakura smiled when she saw them. Neji walked in with silence, Aoi was right by his side as they walked in. Naruto yelped Hinata's name and ran over to her. She smiled lightly as he gave her a big hug. He closed the door and everyone started setting up to start rehearsals. Everyone else was coming in about an hour so they could go to the concert. There was an after party as well; it would be the first time Aoi had seen Itachi in so long.

Aoi watched Neji set up his bass; she glanced over to look at Gaara when she could. Sakura stood in front of the mic. testing if it worked. Aoi then realised that in all of the time that she did spend here in the mansion, she had never watched the Akatsuki practice. She hated the fact that she didn't take the chance to do that.

She moved to sit down next to Hinata who had turned off the TV. Hinata smiled happily at Aoi. She smiled back and then they sat there and watched the guys rehearse. After about half an hour they had a break and went to go get drinks. Aoi started to make her way upstairs when she realised that she shouldn't know where to go in this house. She asked Naruto where the toilets were and he directed her to the bathroom upstairs. She walked in there for a moment. She looked at her reflection. She was missing her electric blue hair; she wished that she had just stayed. Why was she such a naïve child? Why did she think she had to leave? It would've been simpler to stay.

After a moment Aoi left the bathroom. She walked past the guest bedroom and looked inside of it. It looked like Itachi had permanently moved in there, but why? Aoi wasn't living here anymore yet all of Itachi's stuff was in the guest room. She frowned and walked to Itachi's room, she knew it well from when she used to stay in there. She smiled a little. It was exactly how she remembered it, back when she had the little moment. Where she felt so hurt she couldn't even talk, yet the ache in her heart right now felt worse than it did back then. All of her paintings were on the wall; no one had painted over them. Her hand trailed across them. All the way to the heart that was breaking, crumbling into bits of sand. Her memory served her and she realised that Gaara's drawing was the exact same as her painting. Not only that but he also told her that he mimicked her butterfly painting that had broken wings. He must've been stalking her. It actually caused her to smile.

There were still paint cans on the floor and some of her clothes, along with the ones that were Itachi's, like his shirt that she used to wear. She saw an acoustic guitar on the floor, the wood of it was divine and she had never really noticed it was there before. Then again the room was a complete mess ever since her break out three years ago. Even after that when she began to actually date Gaara, she never bothered to clean it up. It served as a constant reminder of what she could go through for love. She frowned; she went through that but at the first thought of her past she ran away. Sighing she sat down on the floor and picked up the guitar. She tuned it perfectly and played a few chords. It served her well.

Sakura sat on the kitchen counter, even when Sasuke protested for her to get off. He gave up after a while. Naruto had gotten out an apple and offered Hinata one. She didn't want an apple but he at least convinced her to take a bite. Sasuke knocked Naruto over to get to the kitchen; he grabbed some chips and walked back over to where Sakura was. She used her legs to bring him closer to her as she sat upon the kitchen counter. He grabbed a chip and took a bite out of it before Sakura bit it off of him. Neji sat on the couch beside Gaara watching whatever was on TV.

"Do you hear music?" Neji asked Gaara. He grunted a little. They wondered where it was coming from.

Even Sakura and Sasuke turned wondering where it was coming from. The guitar chords were perfectly in tuned and fluent. Sasuke lifted Sakura off of the counter and they moved towards Neji and Gaara wondering where it was coming from. Then someone started to sing.

"Oh, my stomach's tied in knots  
I'm afraid of what I'll find if you want to talk tonight  
Oooo Oooo  
See the problem isn't you, it's me I know  
I can tell, I've seen it time after time  
And I'll push you away (mmm)  
I get so afraid, oh, no

And I can't live without you now  
Whoa-oh-oh  
I can't even live with myself  
Uh-uh-uh  
And I can't live without you now  
Whoa-oh-oh  
And I don't want nobody else

I only have myself to blame  
But do you think we can start again?  
'Cause I can't live without you."

It was a voice that was soft but had a grip of dirt within it like a girl singing rock. They all immediately knew what the song was. It was Stomach tied in Knots by sleeping with sirens. They all frowned, who could possibly be singing? Neji and Gaara immediately realised who it was. Sakura soon realised as well. She told the boys to stay seated as she went upstairs to go talk to Aoi.

"See problem isn't you, it's me I know  
I do this every single time  
I'll push you away (ooh)  
I get so afraid, oh, no

And I can't live without you now  
Whoa-oh-oh  
I can't even live with myself  
Uh-uh-uh  
And I can't live without you now  
Whoa-oh-oh  
And I don't want nobody else."

Sakura stood against the door frame listening to Aoi sing. Her dark hair fell over her face as she looked down at the guitar to make sure the chords were right.

"I only have myself to blame  
but do you think we can start again?  
I only have myself to blame  
But do you think we can start again?  
I only have myself to blame  
But do you think we can start again?  
I only have myself to blame  
Let's start again  
Let's start again," she sang. When she finally looked up she dropped the guitar, not bothering to finish the song. She noticed that Sakura was standing there. Aoi quickly got up.

"Sorry that I startled you," Sakura smiled, "It's just we heard you singing from downstairs."

"Oh I must've been terrible, I uh sorry, did I interrupt the rehearsals?"

"Not at all dear," Sakura sat down on the bed, "You were really good. Who were you singing about?"

"Uh w-what?"

"I am a singer; I know when you're singing empty words and when you're singing honestly about someone."

"Oh right uh…" Aoi quivered and sat on the bed beside Sakura.

"Nobody's been in this room for so long. I never thought I would find myself in here. It just, puts us through a lot," Sakura gripped the bed a little.

"What happened?" Aoi asked, wondering if her point of view was different to her own.

"There was this girl, she was lovely, loud, happy, sweet and she was able to open people up, more than anyone could ever imagine," Sakura chuckled a little, "none of us had ever met anyone like her, she was quiet like Naruto but she wasn't annoying. But there was something different about her that made people weary of her. It didn't matter though. That boy downstairs, Gaara, with the red hair. He put her through a lot of pain it would seem, none of us even knew what had happened but she was found in the forest and brought back here. The next day she was screaming and yelling, she had barred up the door, thrown paint across everything and stopped talking to anyone. Those two went through a lot, causing each other pain; he caused her so much pain for such a long amount of time, because all she wanted was to love him. I remember when she finally admitted it to us at a sleepover, we told her to go there, we told her to tell him but she never came back, then we found out she was here screaming and yelling. We thought it was our fault but…now she's caused that boy so much more pain than any of us. He opened up, she opened him up."

"It couldn't have been…that bad…"

"It wasn't for us but when she left out of the blue things kind of changed. Gaara was going insane, for a while he was just empty, then he tried to find her but he couldn't. When he couldn't find her he got so messed up it wasn't even funny but we only know bits and pieces, none of us want to pressure him. Naruto and Hinata had to help him out of that, not even his own brother or sister knew what to do but they got him out of that mess, even Sasuke helped but that only caused him to get punched in the face," she laughed nervously, "even she hadn't of left, I don't think I would've had the courage to pull Sasuke back into the real world. Back to this team. He told me that someone had once hurt him, badly, he told him about his own story of love and how he could never love again. But it wasn't just that, it was everything, about his whole family. He told me everything that had ever hurt him; he opened up to me when I was able to bring him back to earth. He told me that he had gotten rid of that person. But he told me that after he had left school, he spent a year or two away trying to beat his brother at this whole famous thing, but he only got into trouble. He's an avenger, that's what he likes to call himself. Reminds me of the movie that."

Aoi stared at her. She had forgotten that Sasuke was a human being too. Did it really take her leaving to get Sakura to pluck up the courage to tell Sasuke how she honestly felt? To get him to see the truth behind it all.

"Life should be spent with the one you love. If you aren't with them then life is going to be as long as hell," Sakura sighed. Aoi knew what she meant. It only took her breaking Gaara's heart for sakura to realise that. She put and arm around Sakura in a hug.

"We weren't really close friends, Aoi and I. I don't know why but there was something blocking us from connecting but I really miss her," Sakura hugged Aoi back, "Not as bad as Gaara does though. I'm sorry for me blabbing about everything, it's just this room…no one's been in it…even when I'm over…I've never seen anyone go in it."


	6. Chapter 6

_NARUTO (-__ナルト__-)Masashi Kishimoto & Shueisha._  
_Original Characters & plot belongs to me._

**A Heart of Sand.  
**_A modern day Naruto Fanfiction._

By Tiffany

Aoi sat in the limo quietly; it was different compared to the last time she was in a limo. The guys from the Akatsuki band were taking a different limo. Ino sat on Kiba's lap; they had finally decided to actually be in a relationship, after the beach party. Naruto sat next to Hinata, telling her stories about his marvellous adventure. Aoi sat next to Neji, and on the other side was Tenten. Gaara sat next to Lee who looked slightly frightened because of that. Shino sat beside Kiba; he didn't say a single word. Choji was on the other side of Kiba, already munching away at the snacks in the limo. Sasuke sat next to Naruto and Sakura. Aoi smiled lightly. If it wasn't for Sakura she didn't think that she would've remembered that Sasuke was human. He just did what he thought he had to do but Sakura soon showed him that there were other things in life. It didn't matter how much Aoi wanted to hate Sasuke, if he was with Sakura she just couldn't hate him.

They all walked out of the limo like they had done so before. Neji stayed by Aoi's side to make sure she was okay; it wasn't like she hadn't done this before. They all walked through to backstage. The Akatsuki weren't there yet. Gaara, Sasuke, Neji and Naruto went to go get there stuff set up to open for the band. Sakura was getting keyboards for one of the songs they were performing. Aoi lent against a wall watching them all set up. She took a moment to let in what Gaara was wearing. His black skinny jeans fitted him perfectly with belts hanging off of it; he wore a black muscle top that showed off his perfect arms, along with a spiked chocker around his neck that Aoi kind of that was hot, his lip ring was shining silver along with his tongue ring that she could barely see.

Gaara pulled the amps over to the sides and plugged the chords into the guitars. He made sure that was all set up before telling Neji to go check on the backing lights and lasers. He left to go work on those. Gaara set up Neji's bass as he did so. Once he had done that he went to go find Sakura to tell her to hurry up for sound check. He saw Naruto talking to Hinata, before he tripped over his own feet. That clumsy fool. It made Gaara laugh a little. Tenten was talking to lee about how great this was going to be, Ino was…well she was making out with Kiba but now they were nowhere to be seen and Choji was pigging out on the backstage food. He couldn't seem to find Sakura, and they needed to hurry up with the sound check before the fans find their way inside. He spotted Aoi standing against the wall. He forgot that the new girl was even here. She did blend in with the shadows. She wore black stockings, grey shorts and a black knitted jumper over what seemed to be a purple shirt. He stared at her for a moment; it was something his girlfriend would've worn. She was pretty this girl, he kept admitting it to himself but there was something about her that not even his own brother could put his finger on. Something familiar, something that made him, want to trust her.

"Gaara?" she waved her hand awkwardly, he blinked a few times before realising that we was staring.

"Sorry," he grunted so that she could barely hear him.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he told her before walking off. She sighed, she had to tell him. She knew she had to tell him that it was her, even if he hated her forever; she doubted that he would now but he wouldn't take her back. She knew she had to tell him.

"Hey Naomi! We're all going down to the mosh pit now, before the fan girls come," Lee yelled. Aoi had only met him once since she had come back, she didn't even think he remembered her name as 'Naomi' but he is friends with Tenten and Neji. She smiled and followed Lee, Tenten, Hinata and others down to the mosh pit. They could see the crew setting up. Ino and Kiba ran down the stairs and stood next to them.

The doors opened about half an hour later and fans started running into the stadium. They all braced themselves as people rushed in. Once everyone had arrived in the stadium, they closed all of the doors and the curtains pulled away.

They started by singing the song King for a Day. Everyone yelped and cheered as they bounced up and down and screamed the words along with them. Hinata swayed and didn't bother jumping. Everyone saw a different side of Aoi. They thought of her as 'Naomi' who wasn't as outgoing or loud as Aoi really was but tonight she forgot about that. She jumped onto the bars that were holding the fans back. She through her fist up into the air banging at the beat of the music. Her sleeves falling down but she didn't care as she fist pumped to the song. Tenten smiled and joined her standing up on the bars and fist pumped. Sakura smirked at them and moved closer hi-fiving them before moving back to centre stage.

Gaara looked up for a moment as he played on of his final chords. He frowned; there was something on the new girl's arms. Were they cuts? He stared confused, almost forgetting his place in the song. What could've been so bad that she started cutting? Some of those wounds look old, but there were a few new ones.

The song ended and Sakura smiled at the crowd, saying a few pleasurable words. Neji and Gaara both moved forward to where the crowd was to high five as many fans as they could. They moved back just like practiced. The next song was "You Kill me (in a good way" which was one of Sakura's personal favourites. She looked at Sasuke as they started to play the song, and even within the first few lines she glanced back at him.

**Sakura:**

I know that hope weighs on your mind, lost within the seams,  
it seems like we lose ourselves in between.  
But the harder things become, the harder you push away.  
Oh baby, yeah baby, it kills me.

You said it, you said it  
I'll take you at your word.  
These promises that you can't keep,  
it's getting harder to hold on.  
You said it, you said it  
don't ever let me fall.  
Don't give up because you're losing  
(you haven't lost).

In time you'll find that we can sober up,  
clean up any dirt so we can open up.  
These wounds have been open for forever now.  
Come on, be strong.  
Your mind has gotten the best of you.  
You've done enough and you are enough.  
Let's fall asleep tonight,  
I'll hold you close and show you you're not broken.

You said it, you said it  
I'll take you at your word.  
These promises that you can't keep,  
it's getting harder to hold on.  
You said it, you said it  
don't ever let me fall.  
Don't give up because you're losing

(Hold on)

**Gaara:**

Don't you think if it's meant to be, it will be?  
Don't you think things will work out eventually?  
Hold on.

**Sakura:**

You said it, you said it  
I'll take you at your word.  
These promises that you can't keep,  
it's getting harder to hold on.  
You said it, you said it  
don't ever let me fall.  
Don't give up because you're losing.

The crowd cheered wildly. Gaara couldn't take his eyes off of 'Naomi' he wanted to know more about those cuts, he couldn't have been the only person that saw them. He couldn't pay attention to that. They play three more songs before they got off stage. There was about a half hour transition for Akatsuki to set up. Aoi saw Naruto move into the crowd. He wrapped his arms around Hinata and kissed her neck causing her to blush. She told him how great he was up there. When Neji had come down Lee and Tenten ran over to talk to him. Aoi only waved and he tried to wave back before he was swarmed. Sasuke and Sakura stood on the side of the stage, Aoi could just see them.

Akatsuki arrived on stage. Aoi and Naruto both violently fist pumped into the air laughing at each other's enthusiasm. Even Naruto felt that something had changed about her, but he wasn't about to ruin it by saying something. The song finished and Itachi looked upon the crowd. He smiled when he found the face of a familiar friend. It looked as if he wanted to scream and jump with excitement but he held it in. His hand reached out towards Aoi. She frowned at him. His guitar moving as he did. She took his hand and pulled her up on stage. He moved the mic. away from his face and hers.

"When the hell did you get back?" he whispered to her.

"What?"

"I know it's you Aoi, no matter if everyone else doesn't realise it."

"What are you on about I'm Naomi-"

"This is me you're talking to," he turned to the crowd and smiled as he held her hand. She stood awkwardly in front of everyone, pulling her sleeves down. Itachi let go and put the mic. back on its stand. He played a few chords and started to sing. Aoi immediately realised what song it was.

"It doesn't matter if you cloud my mind

There is no amount of distortion

That will ever ruin your pretty picture

Resting upon my restless soul

Like a thousand foul little words

That I can't escape from

That I can't escape from

Are the bets too high?

Is this all just a disguise?

Throughout the paintings

Throughout the pictures

Throughout the words

Or ugly dismays

I've come to say that I love you more than I'm willing to say," It was at that point that Aoi had to walk away from the stage. She walked backstage and Itachi continued to sing as he saw her walk away. She couldn't take it, not that song. That was the song that played when she first kissed Gaara…he knew that. Why did he play it? She walked passed Sasuke and Sakura to see Gaara sitting on the steps near the mosh pit. A whole group of fan girls were beckoning him over but he sat there, head in hands as he felt that song dig through him. She sighed and sat down next to him.

"What do you want?' he was angry and she could tell.

"I thought you might need some company, or help to get rid of those fan girls," she tried to smile.

"I don't need your company, or your help," he snarled before looking at the fan girls, "I'm not fucking you tonight!"

The girls looked saddened after he yelled at them. Aoi touched his hand lightly. He froze taking in the feeling of her skin. He snarled and moved away from her. He walked away passing Temari and Shikamaru who Aoi didn't know had arrived.

"I'm going to the party," he muttered to them as he swooped away. Shikamaru and Temari looked at Aoi who was sitting on the steps alone. She looked up at them sadly. Temari smiled back at her, knowing that she was trying to help. Ai squirmed in Temari's arms and she put her down. Ai immediately ran over to Aoi. She smiled as she fell into Aoi's lap. Aoi pulled her up so she was sitting on Aoi's thighs.

"What's wrong with uncle Gaara?" Ai asked Aoi. She brushed the little girl's hair with her fingers.

"I don't know," Aoi replied sadly. Ai snuggled into Aoi's chest.

"Can I stay with you?" she asked blink so adorably. Aoi looked up at Shikamaru and Temari.

"Its fine, why don't you guys go find Gaara," Shikamaru told her before anyone could speak. Aoi nodded and got up, carrying Ai in her arms. The band was going to finish soon anyway and everyone would be at the after party. Aoi went outside and hailed a taxi to go to the after party. She sat in the back and let Ai sit in her lap. She smiled at the girl before looking at the window.

Ai was still wearing her little panda and it fell over one of her eyes. She played with the thread on Aoi's knitted jumper sleeves. She stared down at Aoi's arms unsure. She had pulled her sleeve up without Aoi even noticing. Small cuts ran down her arms, there were white little scars too.

"Aoi…" she called staring down. Aoi looked at Ai before quickly covering her arms.

"What's wrong with your arm?" Ai pondered. Aoi looked down at her softly.

"Nothing sweetie, it's perfectly fine. Look we're here now," she smiled at the little girl who looked slightly terrified. Aoi paid the taxi driver before getting out. Sakura had her clothes for the after party so she was going to just change later. She texted Sakura telling her that. Aoi got her name check off the list and they already knew who Ai was. They walked in and looked around; there were a few people here already. Aoi walked up stairs to see if he was up there somewhere. She found a balcony but didn't find Gaara. Aoi sat on the floor of the balcony, feeling the wind rush towards her. She put Ai down next to her.

"I can find Mr Panda!" Ai smiled at Aoi.

"It's okay, honestly."

Aoi looked away for a moment, taking in the fact that it was already night. She looked back to say something to Ai but she was gone. Aoi looked down in shock. She had to find her.

Ai had already run down the stairs pretty fast. She had to find her uncle. She wondered why he was so upset. But I little girl like Ai wouldn't understand. She waddled around and finally found Gaara. He was sitting on a stool with a glass of beer in his hand. He took another sip, drinking about half of it and then he put it down.

"Mr Panda," Ai whispered. Gaara looked down at the little girl.

"What?" he snarled.

"A-are you okay?" she tugged on his jeans but he kicked her away with his foot. She fell to the ground and looked up. Tears forming in the child's eyes. She wasn't in pain, the kick was only light but it was an immediate reaction for the girl. Gaara looked down at her, his eyes wide and innocent, he moved to help her, to say sorry but something took over him. His eyes went cold and he went back to drinking.

Aoi cursed as she ran down the stairs, the doors flew wide open and people were coming in. Sakura smiled when she saw Aoi and pushed her into a room. Aoi wailed about finding Ai but Sakura didn't really hear her as she stuffed the bag and her into a room. She told Aoi to hurry up and get changed before running away. Aoi sighed; she changed into a light blue dress that went mid-thigh. It was a sea-foam blue, the same as Gaara's eyes. She wore black stockings and black heels along with a dyed black denim jacket on top. She hid the bag behind some furniture and walked out of the room to find Ai. She saw Naruto and immediately ran up to him.

"I need your help!"

"What's wrong?"

"I was with Ai, Shikamaru's daughter and well she ran off to find Gaara do you know where-"

"He's not-Oh no," Naruto scampered off and Aoi did her best to follow him. Aoi scanned the ground looking for Ai, where could she be? They found Gaara. He had had four glasses of strong beer; he looked at the both with death glares. Aoi quickly looked around him. Ai wasn't there. Where the hell was she? Aoi didn't even think about telling Gaara that she was Aoi, she couldn't when Ai was missing. Ai was all she cared about right now.

"Where is she?!" Aoi yelled at Gaara, showing anger that no one had seen from her.

"Where is who?" his voice slurred.

"Gaara, you can't do this again!" Naruto yelped at him, as if this had happened before.

"You can't tell me what to do."

"Gaara, where's Ai?! We need to find her!" Aoi yelled at him.

"And neither can you, you're not my girlfriend, or my mother. Cause nobody cares."

Aoi looked at him differently but she still had to find Ai, "Gaara snap out of it, we need to find Ai! She's your niece!"

Gaara pushed her to the floor, "I don't need to listen to you."

Aoi's hand clutched her shoulder; he pushed her hard against the bone. She looked at the ground that she was currently on. Ai's hat was on the floor. She picked it up before standing up.

"Gaara, Ai's been here! Where is she!?"

"Who cares...?"

"Who cares?! Are you kidding me Gaara?! You spent your life wanting someone to care about you, everyone can tell. Just because people have left you doesn't mean you have to leave them! This little girl cares about you more than you could ever think and I know you care about her! Hell I even care about her! Where is she?!"

Gaara snarled at Aoi before his hands gripped her face and he kissed her. He actually kissed her. Aoi stood there in shock. She wanted to enjoy it, she really did. His lip piercing moving where her lips were, his warm lips bring back a happiness she hadn't felt in so long. She pushed Gaara away. She was far too annoyed to enjoy this, she had to find Ai.

"Fine, be that way! But I care about that little girl and I'm going to find her!" Aoi threw the panda hat at him and stormed away. Gaara held the panda hat in his hands and looked down at it.

"Gaara…" Naruto rested a hand on Gaara's shoulder.

"She's not Aoi…I know."

"You can't do this again; you can't just get drunk like this…remember how many people you hurt…you were different."

"Hurt? I pleasured them before their realised they were being hurt. I'm not repeating my mistakes I swear."

"Then put down the drink Gaara," Gaara did as Naruto said. He felt different as he did so; even Naruto knew there was something different about him at this point. The girl's words had pushed him right, it was something Aoi would've been able to do. Now that Naruto thought about it, she really did remind him of Aoi.

Sakura let go of Sasuke's hand and went to go get a drink. Aoi asked Sakura if she had seen Ai, Sakura only shook her head meaning no. She looked at Aoi sadly before stating that she would go upstairs and look for the little girl. Aoi thanked her before walking off. She felt a hand reach her waist and pull her close. She felt a cold breath against her. She knew that cold breath instantly, it gave her nightmares.

"What are you doing?" Aoi froze and was only able to whisper a question.

"Don't you want to have some fun?"

"You're sick."

"What like that boy toy you so obviously have a crush on? You think he's hot don't you? With his thick eyeliner, tattoo and 'I don't care' attitude."

Aoi only managed to swallow. She felt scared, she was surrounded by so many people but it didn't feel like that.

"You don't really know him. I know you want to though. So let me tell you a story, it happened a year after his precious girlfriend left. He was out of it, he couldn't even find her but there was a reason behind that. For a whole year he kept blacking out just like this girl used to. He would drink and drink till he was so drunk that he would take whatever girl he could find back to his house or he would even go to hers. He would fuck her senseless. That's how the fan girls started. All of them wanted a taste of him; they wanted to be fucked by him. He fucked practically every single one of them. Do you want to know why he stopped?" Sasuke's voice was a whisper just enough for her to hear him, "he killed one of them."

Aoi found the strength to move away from Sasuke, she looked at him, "No, that can't be true!"

"Oh but it is, he doesn't know that I know of course. It was all hush hush but my family does own the police force, even if we don't want anything to do with it, it has its perks."

"No, he wouldn't do that!" she cried, she knew that their family owned the police force, Itachi had once told her that but Gaara wouldn't have killed someone. The fact that he was drunk for a year and fucked random girls scared Aoi as well. She thought that something like sex would be precious to him, like it was when they were together. It seemed as if what he did was worse than why she left.

"Focus your attention on something other than that freak. Come have some fun with me."

Before Aoi could even say anything Sasuke's face was inches from hers. His breath was on her lips and she wanted to turn away but he held her in place. He was moving in, wanting to kiss her. Aoi stood there in shock. Sasuke was on the floor. He was right in front of her for just a moment. She frowned and looked down. Sasuke grasped his cheek. A familiar red head pounced on top of him and continuously punched him in the face. He continuously saved Aoi from Sasuke but she didn't want this, she didn't want to see this. She grabbed his arm and tried to pull him back. Naruto noticed them and gripped onto Gaara pulling him away from Sasuke. Once Gaara was off of him Naruto rushed to Sasuke. He only pushed the blonde away and told him that he could handle his own problems. The music had even stopped and everyone looked around at the two. Sakura ran into the room, noticing that Sasuke was on the floor she rushed over to him. Gaara stared down at Sasuke. His hands were still fists. He walked away quickly.

"What happened?" Sakura was practically in tears trying to help Sasuke. He pushed her away.

"It was just a misunderstanding," Aoi tried to help both Gaara and Sasuke on this case.

"Yeah…It was," Sasuke said. Sakura flung herself back onto Sasuke. He stopped trying to push her off of him and just let her hold him. Naruto moved away knowing that Sasuke could take care of himself. He walked over to Aoi.

"What was that about?" Naruto asked.

"It was nothing," Aoi looked away.

"Nothing? That was not nothing. Gaara only gets that riled up when he thinks about Aoi, what did Sasuke do?"

"Nothing. Just leave it."

"You keep telling me to leave it, like when I asked about those cuts you told me to leave it but I can't just leave it."

"I'm sorry Naruto; I think you should talk to Gaara."

"It's not like he's going to tell me anything Aoi," Aoi froze at his words. Did he actually just call her Aoi?

"Aoi?" she questioned trying to look innocent against Naruto's wrath.

"Sorry, you just, you suddenly reminded me of her," he walked away. Aoi found her way to the floor and she hugged her knees worried.

Gaara made his way to an empty room. He found a walk in closet. He opened it, turned on the light then closed the door. He sat on the floor trying to hide from everyone else. What would they say? Would Naruto pin him down about this? He hoped Temari and Kankuro didn't find out. He frowned, he heard sniffling. He turned his head to see a little girl in the corner of the closet crying. It was Ai. Gaara looked at her sadly before moving closer to her, he still held her hat. He put it on her head and she looked up at him.

"I'm sorry Ai, I didn't mean to hurt you," he let Ai move closer to him and he held her tightly.

"You have the same eyes as her," she sniffled.

"As who?"

"Naomi. She's got lines on her arms like you used to," Gaara remembered seeing that. He looked down at his own arms; faint white lines were barely visible across them.

"Do you like…Naomi?"

"She reminds me of you Mr Panda," Gaara pulled her onto his lap and she snuggled into his chest.

"Does she now?" he held her tightly.

"Mhm. You both have the same sadness."

"Sadness?' he forgot how wise this three year old was. He suddenly remembered kissing 'Naomi'. He felt guilt for being so forceful on that, he honestly wanted to get to know her. He smiled a little bit; he remembered that she was wearing an adorable blue dress, one that Aoi would wear because it matched the colour of his eyes. The black she wore made it stand out even more. There was something about her.


	7. Chapter 7

_NARUTO (-__ナルト__-)Masashi Kishimoto & Shueisha._  
_Original Characters & plot belongs to me._

**A Heart of Sand.  
**_A modern day Naruto Fanfiction._

By Tiffany

Aoi held herself tightly beneath the blankets. She was sitting on the bed with all the warmth she could find wrapped around her as she faced the open window. The stars gleamed against its blackened sky, even if those stars were faint due to the street lights. Her fingers lingered over her lips, touching them softly. He had kissed her. He might've been a drunken idiot who didn't know what he was doing but every ounce of alcohol comes with an ounce of truth, he must've felt something for her. Even if she was pretending to be someone she isn't, he still wanted her. Her mind drifted to what Sasuke had said. None of that could've been true. How could Gaara have possible killed someone. Even the whole thing about him doing it with other girls it just didn't seem true. Was this what everyone was talking about? Aoi sighed. She didn't want to come to conclusions or think up anything but she just couldn't help it.

After Gaara had punched Sasuke and stormed off Neji had taken Aoi out of there. Hinata accompanied them, since this was Hinata's family house. Aoi didn't really know about the Hyuga situation and why they lived with each other but she wasn't bothered to ask questions. Neji was a good friend. Aoi gripped the bed sheets. She was sitting there in the guest bedroom and she had just remembered something. She never found Ai. They had left so soon she didn't even think of finding her; she was in shock from everything else. Aoi was starting to panic hoping that the girl was okay. She took out her phone and called Gaara.

"Who's this?" Gaara answered the phone after three rings. His voice showed that he was kind of tired which Gaara usually isn't. Aoi kind of liked how his voice sounded when he was tired. She shook her head trying to get rid of her small selfish moment.

"Hello?" Gaara called through the phone slightly irritated.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you?" Aoi asked him.

"What? Oh no, I barely ever sleep."

"Oh it's Naomi by the way."

"Oh," there was a taste of disappointment in his words, but it was only a small hint of it.

"Uh, did you find Ai? I left so fast I just wanted to know if she was okay and-"

"She's fine. She's was just hiding in a wardrobe."

"I guess I would've done the same thing, wardrobes are easy to hide in."

"How'd you get my number?"

Aoi paused trying to think of something, "I asked Neji for it, to see if Ai was alright."

"Well she's fine," she could tell that he no longer wanted to speak to her, "I'm sorry."

His voice changed suddenly, "for what?"

"For kissing you."

"There's no need to be sorry."

"There is, I'm also sorry for yelling at you and making you worry for Ai. She isn't even related to you and you seemed to care more for her than I did in that moment."

"It's perfectly fine-"

"It's not. Don't you understand that?"

"I'm sorry but Gaara there's really no reason to apologize. I understand that you're going through something bad and-"

"How do you understand?" his voice has rage within it. Aoi heard a bottle drop to the floor and smash from his end.

"Are you…drinking again?"

"No."

"Gaara, I-"

"You what?"

"I'll see you at school," she hung up. She was almost about to tell him everything but it wouldn't have been right, she was scared of what he would've done. She never felt so unsafe, so bare. She put the phone down on her bed side table.

Gaara chucked his phone on the floor and picked up another bottle. He knew he should've stopped by now but he was trying not to think. He chuckled at the thought of that. Would he really stop thinking? All it made him do was think more. He played with the trinket around his neck, something his own uncle gave him before he misused his trust. It was a small gourd on a necklace with sand of his mother's favourite beach put inside of it. Gaara sighed as he tried to get off his bed. He rolled over and thudded onto the floor, not able to get up. This wasn't him, he knew that but he didn't care. Not now anyway. He'll be fine in the morning. Well that's what he was hoping anyway.

Kankuro shook his head; he was leaning against the door frame of his little brother's bed room. He wondered how long it would take Gaara to figure out how to walk this time. Gaara groaned from the floor and stared evilly at Kankuro.

"You know Ai is down stairs with her mother and father, it's also two in the morning," Kankuro stated before walking over to Gaara and helping him up.

"I don't need your help," Gaara told him like usual. Kankuro sighed and pushed Gaara back into bed. His voice was tired, drained almost, you couldn't even tell from his voice if he was drunk, just tired but his breath was a different story. Kankuro sat him up right on the bed before taking all of the bottles away. He went downstairs and got Gaara some water. He wondered what had actually happened last night at that party to make Gaara like this. He hadn't gotten drunk in about two years but lately…it's like he was losing Aoi all over again.

Aoi sat up in the bed; she had fallen asleep at around five a.m. It seemed to be around seven now, she hated the fact that she couldn't sleep as well as she used to. It made her chuckle a bit. Hinata must've seen that as she walked past the open door with her hot chocolate because she looked at Aoi funny. Aoi gave her a sheepish smile and she walked in to sit next to Aoi.

"Would you like me to make you a hot chocolate too?" she said without a single stutter.

"Oh no it's fine Hinata really," Aoi smiled.

"Do you know why…Gaara punched uh Sasuke?" Hinata looked at the marshmallows floating in her hot chocolate. Naruto always loved doing that if Aoi could recall.

"No…I don't," Aoi hadn't even bothered to think about that.

"Naruto's really worried about him."

"Naruto seems to worry about all of his friends," Aoi chuckled a little, "how did you too get together anyway? I've always wondered."

"Oh, well," she giggled a little, letting the blush rise to her cheeks, "Well, for such a long time I had a great admiration for Naruto. He was-He is so full of life and everyone just looked down at him then, he just had this determination to be better, to show them what he was made of I-I w-was never like that but, his determination made me want to persist as well. Around three or four years ago I guess I realised that I really liked Naruto. It was like he could breathe life into me. He just made me want to be better, to be more confident. He changed me, even though some people thought I could never change. I took me a while to admit to others that I liked him, Aoi was actually the one that got talking to Naruto, to get us together, at least once. When we were at one of Ino and Sakura's beach parties he asked me out on a date."

She giggled a bit, her finger reaching to her lip delicately as she smiled, "I never thought I would be the one to protect Naruto. We went out on that date and Naruto went off to go to the bathroom. He was stopped by some bullies, robbers actually…he didn't want to fight. He was gone for quite a while that I went looking for him, he was…he was harmed, on the floor, not wanting to fight them, he tried his best to hold himself back but I cut in. After he protested I just, I confessed everything to Naruto and…" her smile faded for a mere second, "there's no need to know the rest. After that day we were inseparable."

Aoi smiled kindly at Hinata, "There's no other couple that deserves each other more."

Hinata blushed wildly and her hot chocolate shook a little. She took out a marshmallow and ate it. Neji was leaning against the door frame and it took Aoi a while to notice he was there. She looked up and smiled at him. Hinata looked behind her and spilt her hot chocolate; she was startled by Neji's sudden appearance. She quickly went to the kitchen to grab some cloths to clean up her mess.

Gaara gripped his head as a pounding head ache laid upon him. He groaned at the kitchen table cause Ai to laugh a little. He gave her a twitching smile as he drank his coffee. This was probably the hundredth time that he had promised himself that he would never drink again. Ai sat in Shikamaru's lap happily, Gaara had gotten used to Shikamaru after all of this time. Ai pulled at Shikamaru's cheeks as he yelped at her. It made Gaara smile. Temari came back down stairs with a few movies, she placed them on the floor and Ai hopped out of Shikamaru's lap. Gaara groaned unintentionally as he walked over to them to see what movies they had. Shikamaru and Kankuro followed.

"I have a suggestion for a movie," Kankuro muttered pervertedly causing Temari to glare at him. Shikamaru sniggered a little and Temari gave him a glare. They sorted through the movies, most of them were Disney or dream works animations. Gaara didn't really give for those movies, he had never really watched any of them but Ai had a favourite. She took the one named beauty and the beast. Gaara frowned slightly but they put the movie in anyway. As they did Gaara quickly texted Naruto asking him to pick him up. Gaara wasn't really up to watching kids' movies.

Hinata was in the kitchen wiping off the hot chocolate that spilt over her. She made small squeamish noises as she did so. The doorbell rang and Hinata froze. She walked over to the door and opened it. Her face went slightly red.

"Hi Hinata!" Naruto smiled scratching the back of his head, "are you going to go wearing your pjs?"

"What? Oh no!" Hinata said highly embarrassed as she ran away to get dressed. Naruto laughed a little and closed the door behind him as he entered the house. He was so used to doing that now. Neji walked out into the living room.

"What are you doing here?" he glared for a moment.

"Hey, you're not as mean as you used to be and I know that. Hinata and I are about to head out to the mall actually. Do you think she forgot?"

"No, she never would forget," was all Neji said. Aoi wandered into the living room, she leant against the door frame looking at the two of them talking. Naruto saw her out of the corner of his eye. He noticed that she was wearing one of Neji's shirts. He wondered what was going on here. No one had spoken for a few minutes so Naruto decided to check his phone. He noticed that he had gotten a text from Gaara. He smirked, coming up with something almost immediately.

"Hey Naomi what are you doing here?" Naruto asked her.

"Uh well, after the whole-"

"She looked distraught after the party so I took her here," Neji told him before the door rang again. He went to go see who it was.

"Oh yeah that's right. I wonder why Gaara punched Sasuke. Hm I'll find out later. Are you busy today? Wanna hang out with us?" Naruto smiled widely.

"Oh I don't want to intrude on your date…"

"You won't be."

"Naruto…" there was a loud bang near the door. Aoi jumped slightly and Naruto turned around to peer at the door. He smiled widely.

"Lee! Tenten!" Naruto yelped noticing they were there. He smiled widely and greeted the two of them. Tenten glared at Aoi. It made Aoi jump a little, she wasn't used to being on Tenten's bad side. Tenten looked at what Aoi was wearing then gave Aoi a death glare.

"On second thought I'll go with you guys," Aoi told Naruto before wondering off to find Hinata. Hinata had changed into a cute purple dress and fish net stockings along with an adorable white hat. Aoi smiled at her and asked if she could borrow a top. Hinata went through her clothes and found a black and purple checkered button up top. Aoi took and put it on before changing into shorts and black stockings. She smiled at Hinata before making her way back to the guest bedroom. She put her shoes on and left her other stuff there. She would get Neji to drop them off later, she hoped he wouldn't mind. Aoi heard chattering in the other room. Tenten and Lee were trying to get Neji to go with them. Aoi wondered what that was about. She shrugged it off and walked into the living room to receive yet another glare.

"You don't have to go," Neji told her.

"No, no I've been here for too long anyway. You should go with Tenten and Lee. There's no need to worry about me honestly, I'm fine. You're a good friend Neji," Aoi smiled. Hinata walked into the room and they all walked towards Naruto's new car. It was shiny and well…orange. Aoi sighed at the sight of it and jumped into the back. Hinata sat up front with Naruto. Naruto told them they were making a stop before they went. Aoi ignored him and just put her ear plugs in. She was listening to bring me the horizon. She closed her eyes and muttered the words.

Naruto pulled up and Aoi hadn't even realised that he had stopped. He kissed Hinata's cheek after some small parting words then got out of the car. He knocked on the front of the door. Inside Gaara was watching beauty and the beast with the rest of his family. He actually started to like the movie, well what's not to like. He heard the knock and groaned as he got up. He clutched his head feeling uneasy. He opened it to see Naruto's smiling face. Gaara blinked in greeting before waving a goodbye to the others. Ai ran up to Gaara and tugged on his shirt before he was able to leave. He turned around and knelt on his knees to be around her height.

"Are you going to see Naomi today?" she asked.

"No, I don't think so," Gaara told her.

"Well if you do can you give this to her," Ai smiled and held out a wrapped present.

"What is it?" Gaara asked taking the small box.

"That's for her to find out," Ai smiled before running back to Shikamaru. Gaara shook his head and put it in his pocket before walking out of the house. Naruto jumped into the car quickly and Gaara dragged his feet towards the car door. He saw Hinata in the front and gave her a polite nod. He opened the door and stood there staring. There was a girl sitting on the far side of the back seats, with headphones in muttering some words. Of course this would happen to Gaara. He didn't even know what to say to her. Didn't she call him last night? Gaara didn't even remember what they were talking about. He sighed and got in closing the door.

Aoi had felt the movement of the car and turned to see the familiar red head. She looked away quickly. They both felt an odd draw to each other that made them look up and gain eye contact for a second. Both of them looked away awkwardly.

"Uh, Ai wanted me to give this to you; I think it's to say thanks or something. I dunno," he passed her the box. Aoi took it with a smile. Naruto started driving, this seemed like a double date, both Gaara and Aoi could feel that they had been shoved together by the smiling idiot. Aoi sighed, the thoughts away and opened the box. She looked at it smiling softly. It was a necklace, one that was a replica of Gaara's. It had an empty trinket which was a gourd; it was painted the exact same way as Gaara's. He was looking out the window not bothering to see what the present was. She took it into her hands, wondering if he made an exact replica for Ai. This would've been so important to Gaara. He gave it to Ai. Aoi knew she had to give it back. She put it in the box and closed the lid.

"I can't have this," Aoi told Gaara.

"It was Ai's present, you should be happy she gave you something."

"You don't understand Gaara, I just…I can't have this," she passed the box back to Gaara. He took it and when Aoi was looking away he opened it. He saw that necklace he had given to Ai as a token of his care. He frowned, why did she want to give it to this girl?

"I told you, I can't have it. You must've given it to her I don't understand why she-"

"No," there was something knew in his voice, understanding perhaps, "you have to take it."

"I can't."

"Naomi, I gave this to Ai to show her that I cared about her. She's giving it to you to show that she cares about you," Aoi smiled faintly at Gaara's words, "I'll put it on you when we stop driving."

Naruto smiled looking in the front mirror. He didn't know why but he knew there was something between those too. Even the Gaara was still getting over Aoi, even within all of that time, and 'Naomi' was someone they had only just met he just knew there was something between them. Gaara had admitted that she was hot so why not take the chance? Even though Naruto was still worried about whatever happened last night he hoped they good at least sort that out.

They arrived at the city centre. Naruto opened the door for Hinata and took her into his arms. He spun her around before putting her down and closing the door. She blushed a little as she smiled at him. He took her soft hand and kissed her cheek. Gaara and Aoi got out on their own and Aoi walked around to the other side where everyone else was. Gaara looked at her awkwardly and told her to turn around. She did as she was commanded and he put the necklace on it. Her roughly cut nails touched the trinket lightly. Once Gaara had put the necklace on her he moved her hair back. Her hair was so soft it was unnatural. Aoi turned around and looked at the ground, smiling a little bit.

"Man I'm so hungry," Naruto complained as they walked into the mall.

"We can go eat over there," Hinata smiled and they walked over to a small café. The café was a small one but they at least got a seat in a corner for all four of them. It was a café that specialises in chocolate. Aoi smirked at the mere sign of it. Naruto was beaming even more that she was. They all went through the menus to pick out what they wanted to eat. Aoi ordered a hot chocolate first, Naruto ordered a whole heap of ice cream and Hinata ordered some macaroons. Gaara just ordered some cookies which Aoi was already planning on stealing. Naruto and Hinata had already started up a conversation. Aoi didn't even know what they were talking about.

"Look," Gaara started and Aoi turned to look at him, "after this, can you go somewhere with me?"

Aoi looked at him for a moment. He just stared at his menu. Aoi didn't want to question it; he might go off or just tell her to forget about it.

"Yeah, sure," she told him.

Their order came after about ten minutes. Naruto finished before everyone else which was absolute insanity. He made quite a mess too. Sweetly enough Hinata wiped the chocolate from his face laughing a little. Aoi sighed at their cuteness and turned to look at Gaara. He was about to take a bit out of his cookie. She smirked and took the cookie. He yelped as it was snatched from his hands. He wrestled at her but she kept the cookie away from him. He growled and moved out of his seat trying to grab the cookie from her. She yelped an 'eep' and jumped under the table. Naruto frowned and looked under the table then back at Gaara. Hinata put her legs up on her chair and hugged them. Gaara dropped under the table. Aoi squealed and moved from under the table. She took a bite of the cookie and ran over to where the counter was. Gaara groaned. His head was pounding and he had no idea why he was making such a big deal over a cookie, but after all it was his. He ran at her and she moved out of his way taking another teasing bite out of the cookie. Gaara was getting slightly irritated now. His eye twitched before he jumped at her. She squealed as she was pushed to the ground. Gaara's hands on either side of her, his legs rubbed against hers. The cookie hung in her mouth. Gaara eyed her for a moment before using his own mouth to rip the cookie out of hers. She laid there on the ground staring at him, not knowing what had happened entirely. He got up and walked out of the café. One of the waitresses came up to Aoi.

"I'm sorry but I'm going to have to ask you to leave," she said in her annoying voice. Aoi growled slightly as she walked out of the café.

"So where to?" she smiled brightly. Gaara couldn't put his finger on it, this confidence she had about her, he hadn't seen it when they had first met but it was almost familiar and warm. He was going to say something but Naruto had dragged Hinata out of the café.

"Why'd you guys have to get us kicked out?" Naruto whined.

"I'm surprised it wasn't you that got kicked out, for once," Gaara toyed. They all set off towards the arcade for a bit. They decided to verse in the guitar hero arcade came. Hinata and Aoi went first. Aoi was seriously thrashing Hinata who stood there awkwardly as Naruto tried to help her. Aoi laughed in victory before passing her guitar to Gaara. She moved away quickly at the slight touch of his hand. Gaara versed Naruto in a game. Naruto put up a good fight. But they all knew that Gaara was going to win. He was even better than Sasuke could ever be. Once that had happened Gaara stepped back and Naruto versed Hinata. Naruto one of course, Hinata wasn't very good but he soon promised to teach her how to play. He kissed her lips sweetly. Then Aoi versed Naruto. Aoi jumped around and slid on the floor, she was insane when it came to guitar hero. Gaara smirked. She beat Naruto easily. Now it was the finals, Gaara verses Aoi. They were even for the most part. When it was almost half way Aoi bumped Gaara. He growled and pushed her back. She yelped and move in front of him, trying to block his view. Gaara groaned, his headache was getting worse with all of this movement. He put his arms around her waist catching her off guard. She dropped her guitar and he lifted her, moving her behind him. She stood there for a few seconds while he started to beat her in the game. Aoi grabbed her guitar and continued for the rest of the song.

"You cheated!" Aoi yelped at Gaara, she crossed her arms and sulked.

"I did not. You've got no proof," he crossed his arms and smirked.

She continued to sulk. He laughed a little and shook his head. He turned to say something to Naruto but noticed he wasn't there and neither was Hinata. They had ditched them. Gaara hit his forehead.

"I need a drink," Gaara muttered and grabbed Aoi's wrist. She yelped at his touch. He frowned and turned back to her. She was wincing and he didn't know why. She was looking away from him, her face in so much pain. He moved her arm so he could roll up her sleeve. He blinked a few times. He remembered seeing that at the concert but he thought he was dreaming. One of the cuts looked pretty recent.

"Naomi…" Gaara managed. Maybe she did know a thing or two about pain. Maybe he shouldn't have judged her.

"I…" she moved her arm away and pulled her sleeve down, "I want some ice cream."

She took his hand and they walked off. He let her drag him away to the ice cream store. He wondered about her, he wondered about her from the first moment he saw her in that office but now, now it wasn't just the fact she was attractive, it wasn't just that he felt drawn to her, it was so much more, he wanted to learn more about her and every single detail about her life. They bought ice cream and sat at one of the tables. After Gaara had finished eating he decided to say something.

"I'm sorry, for hurting you, treating you like your rubbish, for that kiss that I can barely remember, for losing Ai and pretending not to care. I'm also sorry for frightening you. When I punched Sasuke, I'm not sorry for that but I did it because he…he almost raped Aoi, she came to me after that for help but…I just hate that guy."

Aoi played with her eyebrow piercing; he actually remembered that, "It's fine. You act the way you do because of things that have happened to you, I do the same. I left someone I loved because I was forced into it and I've been hurting myself ever since. I should never have left. It was so stupid. I was so stupid, I was scared."

Her words turned to him but she knew that he hadn't even noticed.

"Do you think…Aoi could be hurting…?"

"I know she is. I should know how much that hurts better than anyone."

Gaara smiled softly.


	8. Chapter 8

_NARUTO (-__ナルト__-)Masashi Kishimoto & Shueisha._  
_Original Characters & plot belongs to me._

**A Heart of Sand.  
**_A modern day Naruto Fanfiction._

By Tiffany

Gaara stood back and looked at his art project. He shook his head slight, it was such a blurred image, he never really did those kind of things but this one was. He added the slightest bit of red; it was a boy, standing there alone, with the longest shadow in the midst of blood red fusion.

"Wow," Aoi said over his shoulder causing him to freeze instead of freaking out.

"I didn't know you were there…" Gaara stayed looking at his project.

"If you don't pass this course then I'm screwed," Aoi laughed.

"Well what are you doing for your project?" Gaara turned to face her.

"It's nothing, it's definitely not as good as yours!" she smiled at him. She felt a hand touch her shoulder. She turned to see Neji.

"So are we hanging out tonight?" he asked her.

"Oh! I totally forgot, I'm so sorry Neji, I was going to hang with Gaara."

"You've been following him around for two weeks now; I think he can do fine on his own."

Gaara glared at Neji.

"You need to stop breaking your promises," Neji told Aoi before walking off. Aoi's eyes followed Neji. Gaara could see it, he sighed. He had spent the past two weeks with this girl, just hanging around her, it seemed like he was the one actually following her. He was waiting for her to elaborate more on herself or something like that but even her company was something he was interested in. He really didn't mind having her around. He had gotten used to having people around though.

"Hey, you should go hang with Neji. I've seen enough of you these two weeks," he told her. Her face flushed red and she laughed loudly.

"What?" Gaara commanded staring at the laughing girl.

"I'm sorry, I took that the wrong way…" she giggled as she walked off.

He shook his head cringing slightly, "why is it I'm friends with people that think that way."

The class ended quickly and Gaara left his painting there knowing he could finish it later. He took out his keys and unlocked his car before driving home. He felt bored today, probably because there was no one annoying him about everything. Not that he found her annoying. He sighed and took out his phone and texted 'Naomi' to see if she was going to go hang with Neji. She replied with a yes. Gaara sighed. He got out of the car once he reached home and plopped onto the couch. He flipped through the channels lazily, there was nothing on TV.

Naruto grabbed Hinata's laptop and jumped onto her bed. Hinata looked at him shyly before he signalled her to come over. She sat on the bed next to him, snuggling into him as he turned on the laptop. He put his arm around her and went through the movies on the laptop.

"Naruto, I'm worried for Gaara…" Hinata said quietly.

"What do you mean?" he stopped playing around with the laptop and looked at her.

"I know he means a lot to you and he's been spending a lot of time with Naomi lately but…what if he…"

"Hinata, Gaara's going to be fine. He's gone through a lot and I think Naomi is doing him good-"

"Naruto…I think, I think that Naomi…She's a lot like Aoi isn't she?"

"Well I guess so, but they're completely different. We've talked about this before."

"Naruto, it's different now, I think they're the same person."

Naruto looked at her stunned. His arm moved and he sat facing her now.

"That's impossible Hinata."

"No, listen to me!" she shook her head violently; "She has to be! They act the same, they talk in the same matter, it doesn't matter if she's trying to be quiet, she listens, she's slightly hyperactive just like Aoi is, and they even look the same."

"Hinata…" Naruto had only ever heard her be so sure about something like this once before, maybe twice. He took her hand. He thought about those cuts on 'Naomi's' wrists, he thought that Aoi would never do such a thing.

"What if she leaves again…It took you such a long time to get Gaara out of that mess, you got hurt Naruto."

"Are you sure she's Aoi?" Naruto stared right at Hinata, all Hinata could do was nod, "we need to find out more proof about this, if she really is Aoi-"

The doorbell rang. Naruto jumped up and Hinata followed him. They walked up to the door and opened it to see Aoi standing there. She wore a deep blue shirt with Finn from adventure time on it. She wore black shorts and had black ripped stockings underneath, along with her black creepers (they are a type of shoe if you didn't know that) which added to her height. She smiled shyly. Naruto could see the resemblance clearly now but he still couldn't believe it. Hinata seemed so calm about it as she held onto Naruto's hand but Naruto felt a little uneasy, excited almost, he wanted to hug her yet he wanted to shake her and question her.

"Hey A-ah Naomi," Naruto smiled nerved.

"Hey Naruto, is Neji here? He asked me to meet him here…" she trailed off.

"Neji-san will be back soon, I'm sure," Hinata smiled and invited her in. Aoi smiled and sat on the couch in the living room. Naruto and Hinata sat in front of her. Aoi tugged her sleeves over her wrists as she waited. She felt an awkward vibe in the room. She didn't understand why. Naruto was looking at her differently. She hoped Neji would hurry up and get here soon. She thought about Gaara for a second. She wanted to spend every single minute with him but what if she hurt him again? What if something bad happens? What if…she stopped asking what if, it was too consuming. She looked up from her wrists. Naruto hit the couch and got up. He walked to the closest wall; he hit his fists against it. His head soon rested against the wall, his fists still remained on it as he faced that empty white wall. Aoi had jumped back in shock. Hinata got up and put her hand on his back.

"Naruto?" Aoi voiced her concern as she got up and walked towards him. He moved away and sat on the floor.

"How can you sit here like you're a completely different person?! How can you do this to us? Act like nothing has changed, like nothing has happened! Why did you do it?" his voice became calm yet it was upsetting.

"Naruto, I don't understand…"

"Aoi," his eyes were sharp. She looked at him sitting there on the floor. The look in her eyes was indescribable.

"Naruto…I…I can't explain it, I'm sorry."

"You can't explain it?! It doesn't matter, it's not me you need to be explaining things to," he looked away.

"I know…I" the door opened. They turned to see Neji.

"Hey, you're early," Neji noticed as he walked in, "you ready to go?"

"Uh," she looked at Naruto for a second, "Yeah…"

Gaara threw the remote at the wall. He was so bored, there was no one around. He wondered if Kankuro was actually home. He hadn't said a single word if he was which is odd for Kankuro. He took a moment and the thought of Aoi floated into his mind. He knew he shouldn't be thinking about her, he might go out of control but he only took a moment. He hadn't thought about her for a while now, maybe because he was occupied. He thought about following 'Naomi' and Neji. He used to stalk Aoi a lot and she didn't mind. Gaara took some time to realise how creepy that seemed but he just wanted to see if she was okay and if she was different around Neji. He got up and made his way towards the door.

"Don't even think about stalking that poor girl," Kankuro moaned from the kitchen. Gaara turned and looked at him. So he was in the house. What was he doing in the kitchen?

"I'm not going to stalk her."

"She's not Aoi, remember that."

"I know."

"You know there's an ad in the paper about bands, they need one to open for some band," Kankuro gained Gaara's interest. Kankuro knew he had to keep Gaara away from creeping that girl out. Gaara took the paper and looked at the ad. There were a few songs he wanted to put down with the band. He took the phone and called the number to confirm a spot. He texted everyone in the band, except for Neji, to meet at his house quickly. When they all arrived, including Hinata who was latched onto Naruto, Gaara told him they had secured a spot for the band.

"Could you talk to us before you sign us up for something next time?" Sasuke eyed him. Gaara glared.

"There's a song that I think would work for us…" his trailing off made Naruto immediately know that it was something Gaara needed to get off his chest, "Sakura, you can…take my guitar, you should be able to play the small parts, I'll show you which parts you will sing but I'll take the lead for this one."

"Alright," Sakura moved to where his guitar was and set it up. The others grabbed their stuff out of the car and Naruto used the electric drums Gaara kept here just in case. Once they were all set up Gaara coughed into the microphone to check it was working. He discussed the parts over with Sakura and then they started.

**"A Place Where You Belong"**

**Gaara:**

{You're dead} _[x2]_

**Sakura:**  
Your body's cold  
Hope is lost I can't let go  
Can I die with you so we can never grow old?

**Gaara:**  
Cut the ties (Cut the ties)  
With this note you left behind  
As I read the words I hear you telling me why

**Sakura:**  
Too late, too late

**Gaara:**  
I never said goodbye

**Sakura:**  
Too late, too late

**Gaara:**  
Can't even ask you why  
And now I'm wasting away in my own misery  
I hope you've finally gone to a place where you belong

My sadness shows  
As your name is carved in stone  
Can't erase the words, so the reality grows  
I wish I died (I wish I died)  
On that night right by your side (Night right by your side)  
So just kill me now, let the good times roll

**Sakura:**  
Too late, too late

**Gaara:**  
I never said goodbye

**Sakura:**  
Too late, too late

**Gaara:**  
Can't even ask you why  
And now I'm wasting away in my own misery  
I hope you've finally gone to a place where you belong

Will you wait for me? (Will you wait for me?)  
Will I see you on the other side?  
You won't have to wait too long  
Yeah, yeah!  
Will you come to me? (Will you come to me?)  
Will you take me to the other side?  
'Cause here I don't belong!

**Sakura:**  
Too late, too late

**Gaara:**  
I never said goodbye

**Sakura:**  
Too late, too late

**Gaara:**  
Can't even ask you why  
And now I'm wasting away in my own misery  
I hope you've finally gone to a place where you belong

I never said goodbye  
Can't even ask you why (I've wasted)  
Away in my own misery  
I hope you've finally gone to a place where you belong

The tone within Gaara's song was different to when he usually sang about Aoi. Naruto guessed it was Aoi he was singing about but it felt as if he was actually seeing the conclusion of things, like he was finally admitting that she was gone and he couldn't do anything about it. It felt as if he was almost facing it. Naruto got up and put a hand on Gaara's shoulder. Hinata was sitting on the floor and watched the two of them, knowing how important this was. Naruto wanted to say something about the fact that Naomi and Aoi are the same person but he just couldn't. All Naruto knew he could do was ask Aoi about this, ask her why she left. Hinata jumped, her phone went off and then Gaara's went off too. Hinata took out her phone and read the message out loud.

"We require you to come down to the hospital, Neji is sitting here waiting for a relative," she shook as she said it. Naruto frowned and went over to Hinata. He grabbed his coat and put it around her telling her that he would go with her. Naruto turned to Gaara and ask what his text said.

"It's the same but about Naomi," Gaara frowned, worry took over him. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura felt their phones vibrate.

"It's from Neji, he says Naomi is injured," Naruto yelped.

"I got the same message," Sasuke told them.

"Me too," Sakura chimed. They all walked out of the house. Gaara streaming for the wheel of the car. He got in and started it. Naruto and Hinata jumped in the back. Naruto held Hinata's hand tightly, they were both worried. Sasuke hopped in the back and Sakura sat on his lap. Gaara set off and they all moved in the car trying to grab their seatbelts and put it in place. Sakura kept muttering that she hoped they were okay as Sasuke tried to calm her a bit. Hinata was shaking with worry and Naruto looked so angry. Even though Aoi had left she was still a friend and he cared for his friends. Gaara didn't shake or mutter, he didn't curse or anything he just drove, fast. He had to concentrate. They arrived at the hospital the text had told them to go to. He chucked his car keys to Sakura before jumping out, Naruto and Hinata at his heels. Sakura locked the car and dragged Sasuke inside; they were more than a few steps behind. Gaara and Naruto banged on the receptionist's table demanding for the room. Only Aoi had a room and they both raced towards it. Naruto dragged Hinata along and Gaara pushed the door open. Gaara saw the pale girl with closed eyes lying in the white sheets of the hospital room. He froze when he saw her, not quite sure what to do. Hinata was shaking against Naruto. Neji stood up and they noticed that he was in the room.

"What happened?" Naruto asked.

"She had gone to the toilet just before the movie we had decided to see and she…well some people attacked her and-"

"Where are these people now?"

"They're a few hospital beds down, there were three of them. She handled herself admirably."

"How did you not realise something was happening?" Gaara asked still looking at the girl in the bed. She had bruises on her face but Gaara couldn't see if any other part of her was injured.

"I just assumed that she was taking her time in the bathroom-"

"She's not like that though," he turned towards Neji, "Are you an idiot or something? You didn't help her at all! You let her get hurt! This never should've happened!"

"What do you think she would be safe with you? You're a monster. You always will be. I'm not daft I know who you are."

"That's enough," Naruto pushed Neji out of the room, "Aren't you better than this? I thought we had gotten through this. Come back in when you've gotten your senses back."

Naruto closed the door and locked it. Neji banged on the other side.

"Naruto-kun, shouldn't we let him in?" Hinata looked like she was about to burst into tears.

"It'll be fine," he hugged her tightly. Gaara walked towards Aoi and knelt beside her. Naruto and Hinata exchanged words before she was let out of the room. Naruto knelt down beside Gaara. He took Aoi's hand and then grabbed Gaara's. He made Gaara hold her hand. Gaara held her hand tightly.

"She'll be okay," Naruto told him.

"You never know," Gaara turned her arm over. His fingers traced her scars.

"Do you want me to stay or-"

"You can go."

Naruto nodded. He left the room and closed the door telling their friends that they can come back later. Neji stayed outside for a little longer though. Later on that night Tenten and Lee showed up to take Neji home. Gaara stayed inside of Aoi's room. He had been holding her hand for about two hours now. He could feel the heat from her flesh. His fingers traced her scars once more. The most recent wound was pushed upon. Blood started trickling from her arm. He licked it off of her and kissed her scars as if to heal them. He noticed that she had bruises right down her arm and part of her arm was swollen. He let go of her hand and looked at her. She looked freezing. He sat her up slightly and put his hoodie on her. He noticed that her shirt was slightly ripped. He sighed and laid her back down before sitting down on a chair near the bed. He drifted to sleep for a few hours but he kept waking. Hoping that she would awaken too.

There was a knock on the door. Gaara turned his head slowly and watched as Temari, Shikamaru and Ai walked in. Temari held her daughter tightly. Shikamaru pulled up a seat next to Gaara.

"How's she doing?" he asked him.

"You don't even know her."

"You'd be surprised how much I know."

Temari set Ai down and walked over to Gaara. She pulled him up and gave him a much needed hug. Even though he didn't really hug her back he secretly appreciated it. She let Gaara sit back down as she made sure he was alright before asking what happened. Ai shuffled over to where Aoi was. She climbed onto the bed and sat at the end near Aoi's feet. She took off her Panda hat and shifted it on top of Aoi.

"Gaara…you've been here for almost four days…" Temari told him.

"I need to be here when she wakens."

Ai moved on the bed again. She sat on top of Aoi now. She took Aoi's hands and started playing with them. She could feel a slight movement under the bed.

"Don't you think she been awake already, perhaps she's asleep, otherwise it would be labelled that she was in a coma."

"Well I don't want to dose off if she does awaken again," Gaara looked down at his feet, "I promised myself that when she awakens I will never let her be hurt again."

"Is this…to make up for Aoi hurting…you?"

Gaara didn't say anything. Ai could feel the sheets moving. She giggled slightly. Aoi's arms moved slightly. Ai giggled more. She was still holding onto Aoi's hands. Aoi blinked and moved one of her hands to rub her eyes. She looked at Ai sitting on top of her. She smiled at the little girl. She caressed the girl's cheek and she giggled some more. Aoi sat up moving Ai slightly. She giggled even more and put her own panda hat back on.

"Naomi…" Gaara moved passed Temari and sat on the edge of Aoi's bed. She lurched forward and hugged him tightly. He didn't mind, he actually hugged her back.

"I know you've been here to whole time."

"How'd you-"

"I kept waking up in the night to find you sleeping," she giggled just like Ai did as she moved away a little bit; she kept her arms wrapped around his neck.

"You look terrible."

"Thanks…"

She let go of Gaara who desperately wanted her to hug him yet again. He didn't know why he felt this entirely but he didn't care too much. Temari smiled at her. She hugged Aoi before taking Ai out, Shikamaru followed them.

"Are you okay?" he touched the bruises on her cheek and she flinched slightly, "Sorry."

"It's okay," she held onto his hand.

"How did this happen?"

"I don't remember it entirely but I was heading to the bathroom and some random guys came up to me asking for my bag. There was no way I was going to give it to them…and you can guess the rest. They ended up worse than I did though."

She smiled. Gaara couldn't smile at her; he was looking at every injury on her. He felt that she was trying to cover up how hurt she was.

"You don't need to put brave face on in front of me."

"I'm not putting a brave-"

"Naomi."

"What?!"

Gaara looked away.

"Sorry," she put her finger under his chin to make him face her, "I'm sorry."

"When Aoi left…I put on a brave face. I tried to pretend that was okay, I couldn't stand being around 'her' friends, it took me a while to think of them as my own. I took off, I travelled the world looking for her but I never could find her. I even went to my home town Suna for a while, I hated that place but I still went because all I wanted to do was find her. I was mad at her, I was upset, I wanted to know why she left and I just wanted to hold her in my arms. I knew it wasn't of her own accord and I wanted her to just tell me why she left and who made her so I could tell her that I didn't care. But I couldn't find her. I don't think I'll ever be able to find her. Her face is a blur and I lost that picture that we had together. I only remember her bright blue hair and her slightly tanned skin, I knew she hated the way her thighs would stick together and when her favourite characters would die in shows. I remember what she loved and what she hated, I remember moments but her face is a complete blur that it killed me. It still kills me. After I couldn't find her, I changed. I drank and drank until I ended up in hospital. I soon gave up on that idea and just drank and fucked. I know its crude but every night I would just pretend that the random girl I was with was her. But it was never the same, no matter what I tried. Naruto used to come and find me every night and drag me home with Hinata's help. They were good to me. They could see right through me. I never thought it was a good thing but I can see it was now. They found me one night. I thought that I was pissed but I seemed more sober than anything. There was this girl who had died her hair blue; I don't even remember what she looked like other than that. We went to the hotel I usually took girls and in the midst of it like every single time I would scream Aoi's name. She hit me and told me to get over that bitch. I pushed her off me and took a drink. She stood up and started screaming at me, I wish I could remember what she had said but I didn't. She was strong that girl. She had pulled me off the bed and pushed me. I punched her in the face and punched her in the ribs before pushing her through the window. Naruto found me then and dragged me out of the place. I have no idea what happened but I seemed to of gotten worse. I kept picking fights, brawling with people in clubs and I just blanked out. I don't remember any more. So I know about putting on a brave face every day because I was like this every night, I was in pain and I tried to hide. It never works."

She looked deep into Gaara's eyes. It seemed so simple to her, it didn't seem terrible, and it sounded reasonable. She might not have been there but she could feel that this was tough for him. She caressed his cheek softly then pulled him in close. Her lips locked with his.


End file.
